A Fascinating Relationship

There is a butterfly that has a fascinating relationship with red ants. How does it come about?

In the early summer the female of the European large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) lays her eggs on wild thyme blossoms. Through the course of two skin changes, the hatched caterpillar feeds chiefly on these blossoms. Thereafter it drops to the ground to begin a search for something different.

When found by a red ant, the two creatures act as if they knew each other. With her antennae and legs the ant begins to stroke the caterpillar. As a result, a drop of honeydew is secreted from a pore in the caterpillar’s tenth segment. The ant eagerly sucks it up, and eventually other ants begin to share in the feast.

When the segments of the caterpillar’s thorax swell up, the original ant takes this as the signal to transport her new acquaintance to the ant nest. In her jaws she holds the caterpillar just behind the enlarged segments. Then, for quite a while the caterpillar’s home is a chamber occupied by young ant grubs, and these are its new food. In turn, the ants get the desirable honeydew.

The caterpillar’s pupal stage begins in the spring of the following year, and three weeks later an adult butterfly with limp, crumpled wings starts crawling through the passages of the ant nest. No ant interferes. Outside, in the light of the sun, the process of making the butterfly’s wings firm for flight is completed.

The extraordinary relationship between ants and this particular variety of butterfly raises hard questions for those who accept the theory of evolution. How could an ant have come to know about the pore on the caterpillar’s tenth segment, and what would cause it to secrete honeydew? How could the caterpillar learn what would be needed to prepare itself to be carried off by an ant? Why would the ants permit the adult butterfly to crawl out of their nest freely? Such questions can be answered when one accepts as truth the words: “God proceeded to create . . . every winged flying creature . . . and every moving animal of the ground according to its kind.” (Genesis 1:20-25) Yes, not blind chance, but purposeful design is involved.