Trail following behavior in the american painted lady caterpillar vanessa virginiensis (Hexapoda: Lepidoptera)

The objective of this study was to determine whether painted lady caterpillars, Vanessa virginiensis, exhibit trail following behavior via a pheromone. We conducted 450 trials with caterpillars in a T-maze. For a control treatment, we did not expose caterpillars to pheromones in either arm of the maze. For two experimental treatments (trail treatment and extract treatment), we left one arm untreated, and we treated the other arm with natural pheromones (trail treatment) or pheromone extract (extract treatment). We recorded the arm choice of each caterpillar. The choices made by both experimental treatments were significantly different than those of the control treatment, indicating that V. virginiensis does exhibit trail following behavior involving a pheromone. Future research should be conducted onV. virginiensis to determine the function of trail following, the chemical composition of the pheromone, whether a hierarchy of signals is used in communication, and whether degree of relatedness impacts pheromone reception.