Salty suitors: High larval sodium intake reduces adult survival and influences reproductive behavior in a lepidopteran herbivore

Sodium is a vital element for animals, essential for physiological function and individual-level development and behavior. When animals are sodium-limited, they often engage in behaviors such as cannibalism, or visiting salt licks to obtain sodium. Even so, how variation in sodium availability at larval stages influences mating behavior and reproductive output has received relatively little attention and those of Lepidoptera report conflicting results. We used the bordered patch butterfly, Chlosyne lacinia (Geyer, 1837; Nymphalidae), to investigate the role of larval sodium uptake in adult mating behavior, reproductive success, and lifespan. Males and females reared on host plants with higher sodium concentrations mostly did not pair differently than individuals reared on host plants with lower sodium concentrations and did not differ in their immediate reproductive success. However, we observed that females reared on High-Sodium host plants avoided mating with males reared on High-Sodi..., Collection sites and colony maintenance
We collected C. lacinia caterpillars on two separate occasions, referred to as “Colony 1” and “Colony 2” for two behavioral experiments (see below regarding Choice and No Choice trials). Colony 1 was used for the Choice trials and Colony 2 was used for the No Choice trials. We collected C. lacinia caterpillars for Colony 1 from eight different locations in southern Texas in April 2023 (Fig. 1A; Table S1). Colony 2 caterpillars were collected from 12 locations in southern Texas in June 2023 (Fig. 1A, Table S1). Each location was labeled as a distinct population, and we maintained each population separately. We collected 3rd-5th instar larvae (Fig. 1B) to minimize the development time individuals would spend in the laboratory. We kept each population in a jar (16.5 cm height, 8.5 diameter). We maintained caterpillars in their respective jars, feeding them ad libitum Helianthus annuus L. (Asteraceae) or Ambrosia trifida (L., 1753; Asteraceae) leaves ..., , # Salty suitors: High larval sodium intake reduces adult survival but does not affect reproductive behaviors in a lepidopteran herbivore

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk2g](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk2g)

## Description of the data and file structure

Chlosyne lacinia 2023-2024 Project ReadMe

This GitHub project corresponds to my second dissertation chapter regarding the effect of larval sodium access on adult mating behavior in C. lacinia. In this project folder,

There are raw data files, cleaned up data files, a metadata document, and R scripts used to run my analyses.

### **Files and descriptions:**

* 2023_choice_trials_2025_V_26.csv
* 2023_choice_trials_subset_2025_V_26.csv: a subset of the “raw_data” file with only the Choice trial data
* 2023_choice_trials_subset_HH_removed_2025_V_26.csv: the “2023_choice_trials_subset” with one entry removed, the single High-Sodium x High-Sodium pairing. This was used for analysis
* 2024_4_2_modeling.Rmd: R script for the AN...,