Vibratory territorial signals in caterpillars of the poplar lutestring, Tethea or (Lepidoptera: Drepanidae)

Title:

Vibratory territorial signals in caterpillars of the poplar lutestring, Tethea or (Lepidoptera: Drepanidae)

Creator:

Scott, Jaclyn L. and Yack, Jayne E.

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:ff07aba2-29d0-4f4b-8f13-2eee233557fc
uuid:ff07aba2-29d0-4f4b-8f13-2eee233557fc

Subject:

Zoologie, zoologie, entomologie, leaf shelter, Drepanidae, Thyatirinae, Tethea or, larva, defense, vibration, communication, mandible scraping, territory, 2, and 59

Type:

article, články, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

Caterpillars of the poplar lutestring moth, Tethea or, construct leaf shelters that they defend against intruding conspecifics using a combination of vibratory signals and physical aggression. Staged interactions between a resident caterpillar and introduced conspecific were recorded with a video camera and laser vibrometer. Residents crawl towards the intruder and perform three behaviours: lateral hitting, pushing, and mandible scraping. Vibrations caused by mandible scraping result from the caterpillar repeatedly scraping opened mandibles laterally against the leaf surface in bouts lasting 1.16 ± 0.39 s, with an average of 4 ± 1 scrapes per bout. We propose that these scrapes function in leaf shelter defense against conspecifics for the following reasons: Mandible scrapes are produced only by residents; they are generated when a resident is approached by an intruder; the rate of scraping increases as the intruder approaches the shelter; and residents in all trials retain their shelters, with the intruder leaving the leaf within 127.9 ±104.3s from the beginning of the trial. The function and evolutionary origins of vibration-mediated territoriality in caterpillars are discussed. and Jaclyn L. Scott, Jayne E. Yack.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2012 Volume:109 | Number:3

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false