Specialist weevil, Rhyssomatus lineaticollis, does not spatially avoid cardenolide defenses of common milkweed by ovipositing into pith tissue

Rhyssomatus lineaticollis is a milkweed specialist whose larvae feed upon pith parenchyma in ramet stems of the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. Compared with other specialist insect herbivores on milkweeds, this curculionid beetle is unusual in that it is cryptically colored and does not sequester cardenolides characteristic of milkweed chemical defense. Based upon optimal defense theory, we predicted that pith tissue would be low in defensive compounds and that oviposition into the pith would spatially avoid cardenolides. We rejected this hypothesis because we found that pith tissue has a relatively high cardenolide concentration compared to cortex, epidermis, and leaf tissues. Moreover, we found total plant cardenolide concentration was lower in plants that contained the beetle eggs. Cardenolide concentrations were different among tissues in intact stems without the pith herbivore compared to stems where it was present. Furthermore, the overall polarity of the cardenolides present varied among plant tissues and between plants with and without R. lineaticollis eggs. Although we found lower concentrations of cardenolide in piths where the eggs were present, the cardenolides present in the pith contained more nonpolar forms, indicating that the plant may be responding to herbivory by increasing toxic efficacy of cardenolide defenses while lowering the total concentration. We suggest that preoviposition behavior by female beetles, which includes feeding on new leaves of the plant. is a mechanism by which females manipulate plant chemistry and assess quantitative and qualitative changes in cardenolide chemistry in response to herbivory prior to oviposition.