MATING SYSTEMS AND SEXUAL DIVISION OF FORAGING EFFORT AFFECT PUDDLINGBEHAVIOR BY BUTTERFLIES

1. Foraging effort can vary among age classes and between the sexes. I n many Lepidoptera, young males feed from mud, dung or carrion in a be haviour known as 'puddling', whereas females rarely puddle. In at leas t one species, males transfer sodium gained from puddling to females a t mating for use in egg production. 2. Here we examine sex- and age-sp ecific puddling patterns in seven montane butterfly species. We also t est the hypothesis that among species in which young males predominate at puddles, differences in age- and sex-specific puddling patterns fo r a given species are related to mean female lifetime mating numbers. 3. For five species, young males fed proportionately more at puddles t han other sex and age classes. Two species showed anomalous feeding pa tterns. In one, young females predominated at puddles; in the other, b utterflies were rarely found at flowers. 4. As predicted, among the fi ve species in which young males feed proportionately more at puddles, mean number df lifetime matings by females was negatively correlated w ith frequency of mud puddling by older females. A second prediction th at mean number of lifetime matings by females is positively correlated with frequency of mud puddling by older males was not supported. 5. T he results provide support for interspecific variation in division of responsibility between the sexes for resource acquisition for female r eproduction, indicating dose coordination between the sexes of foragin g and life-history tactics.