An oviposition stimulant for spicebush swallowtail butterfly, Papilio troilus, from leaves of Sassafras albidum

Female butterflies of the spicebush swallowtail, Papilio troilus, are speci alists, ovipositing on plants in the family Lauraceae. Column chromatograph y and HPLC were used to isolate an oviposition stimulant from the leaves of one of irs hosts, Sassafras albidum. The stimulant was identified as 3-tra ns-caffeoyl-muco-quinic acid on the basis of FAB-MS and H-1 NMR spectra as compared to a compound previously isolated from another plant. It was not a ctive alone, bur it increased the oviposition activity of butterflies when combined with other stimulant(s) at a concentration of 7 ng/mm(2) leaf surf ace area. Other caffeoylquinic acid isomers tested did not have this effect . This is the first report of a swallowtail contact oviposition stimulant f rom a plant in the family Lauraceae.