Predators use various tactics to find and depredate bird nests. This study examines a possible tactic of visually orientated predators termed “delayed nest-visit”. This consists in remembering the positions of incubating parents and subsequent easy depredation of eggs when the parents are away from their nests. Conditions for use of this tactic were experimentally simulated by installing artificial nests with quail eggs and plastic dummies of northern lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) at 11 actual breeding grounds with various
habitat conditions in southern and eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Habitat, presence of the dummy, and their interaction significantly affected nest survival. While 17.2 % of the nests baited with the dummy were depredated, this occurred in only 6.9 % of the nests without the dummy. This depredation rate was affected by the visibility of the dummies in particular habitats. The results suggest that predators may remember the nest position to delay their first visit to a previously located bird nest from a remote place and may use
this tactic to easily capture the clutches. The use of this tactic showed that at least some predator species are able to apply much more sophisticated approaches in search of birds’ nests than previously assumed.
Our study focuses on a series of biological characteristics that Anomalochrysa hepatica exhibits; herein, we compare these features with those expressed by two other species within the endemic Hawaiian lacewing genus. Some of the characteristics (No. 2-3, below) vary greatly among the three congeners and may be of phylogenetic importance; others (No. 1, below) probably are not. Our study showed the following: (1) Developmental response to temperature. Anomalochrysa hepatica's developmental rates under a range of temperatures parallel those of the congener A. maclachlani, but A. hepatica's thermal threshold is lower. It is possible that both species' developmental responses to temperature are subject to considerable geographic variation and thus are of little phylogenetic significance at the species level. (2) Larval color change. Third instars of A. hepatica undergo a striking color change as they mature. In expressing this trait, A. hepatica resembles its closely related congener, A. maclachlani, but differs from the more distantly related congener, A. frater. This color change may have phylogenetic importance. (3) Reproductive behavior. Courtship and mating in Anomalochrysa comprise a consistent sequence of behavioral elements, some of which differ among the three species. For example, during courtship, A. hepatica produces readily audible clicks that are associated with forward flicking of the forewings; in A. maclachlani, readily audible clicking occurs with simultaneous flicking of the fore- and hind wings; in A. frater wing-flicking is present but we did not perceive audible clicks. Some of the interspecific variation in mating behavior may also involve specific morphological modifications; aspects of both the behavioral and morphological variation may provide useful characters for phylogenetic study. (4) Oviposition and rates of egg survival in the field. Unlike other Chrysopidae, endemic Hawaiian Anomalochrysa, including A. hepatica, typically lay unstalked eggs; however, species vary in their patterns of egg laying. Both A. hepatica and A. maclachlani deposit clustered eggs, whereas A. frater lays eggs singly. In nature, the average rate of hatching per A. hepatica egg mass was ~75%. Several species of introduced predators and a species of trichogrammatid parasitoid attacked these eggs.
The gypsy moth oophagous predator guild in the Mamora forest is an assemblage of many species whose succession in egg masses enhances the exploitation of this food source. Life history, biological Features and trophic capacities of predator species are described from field observations and laboratory rearing. Extreme diversity of diets, capacity to resist prolonged fasting and extended larval development with extra-instars enable them to survive on the cork oak when gypsy moth egg masses are absent. The 1986-1990 gypsy moth outbreak occurred in a forest part where unhealthy cork oaks are common. by providing abundant shelter for numerous arthropods these trees are beneficial to the oophagous predators which find there various and abundant food sources. This probably explains why egg predator activity in the infested area rapidly increased so that the pest outbreak collapsed.