Subsocial Neotropical Doryphorini (Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae): new observations on behavior, host plants and systematics

Autor: Donald M. Windsor, Guillaume Dury, Fernando Frieiro-Costa, Susanne Lanckowsky, Jacques Pasteels
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: ZooKeys, Vol 332, Iss 0, Pp 71-93 (2013)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1313-2989
1313-2970
DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.332.5199
Popis: A summary of literature, documented observations and field studies finds evidence that mothers actively defend offspring in at least eight species and three genera of Neotropical Chrysomelinae associated with two host plant families. Reports on three Doryphora species reveal that all are oviparous and feed on vines in the Apocyanaceae. Mothers in the two subsocial species defend eggs and larvae by straddling, blocking access at the petiole and greeting potential predators with leaf-shaking and jerky advances. A less aggressive form of maternal care is found in two Platyphora and four Proseicela species associated with Solanaceae, shrubs and small trees. For these and other morphologically similar taxa associated with Solanaceae, genetic distances support morphology-based taxonomy at the species level, reveal one new species, but raise questions regarding boundaries separating genera. We urge continued study of these magnificent insects, their enemies and their defenses, both behavioral and chemical, especially in forests along the eastern versant of the Central and South American cordillera.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals