Endemic island plant-herbivore interactions: Kamehameha butterfly (Nymphalidae) and Hawaiian Urticaceae

Insect-plant interactions are less well studied than other types of herbivory on islands, precluding a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary ecology of these interactions. Declines in native island plants and insects call for urgent attention to characterize these species’ interactions for their conservation and to better understand evolution in these unique, insular ecosystems. In Hawai‘i, the Kamehameha butterfly (Vanessa tameamea) is one of only two native butterflies, and larvae are specialists on native urticaceous plants. Using a no-choice bioassay, we investigated performance of V. tameamea reared from egg hatching through eclosion on four native urticaceous host plants, Boehmeria grandis, Pipturus albidus, Touchardia latifolia, and Touchardia oahuensis, and one exotic urticaceous species, Cecropia obtusifolia. Performance varied significantly among the plant diets, with V. tameamea performing best on P. albidus and T. oahuensis among the performance metrics of survival..., Performance of Kamehameha butterflies was assessed via survival, time to eclosion, and adult biomass, in a lab bioassay experiment testing the quality of 5 plant diets. Characteristics of the five plant species used as hostplant material were assessed via chemical analyses, morphological analyses, and microscopy. Raw data are provided here., , # Endemic island plant-herbivore interactions: Kamehameha butterfly (Nymphalidae) and Hawaiian Urticaceae

Data from bioassay experiment testing performance of Kamehameha butterfly (*Vanessa tameamea*) on five Urticaceous host plant species. Hostplant quality data are included.

## Description of the data and file structure

**Bioassay_survival (Sheet 1)**

Description:  Survival data for *Vanessa tameamea* reared on five different plant diets (N=224)

butterfly_population: *Vanessa tameamea* population; individuals from three Hawaii populations used in the study (two from Oahu and one from Hawaii Island)

diet: the plant diet that *Vanessa tameamea* consumed during the bioassay

count: total number of *Vanessa tameamea* individuals fed a particular diet from a particular population (subgroup count)

 no_total_survived_incl_deformity: total number of *Vanessa tameamea* individuals that survived in each diet/population subgroup from egg hatching to eclosion and includes those that eclo...