Prey-tracking behavior and prey preferences in a tree-climbing firefly
Prey-tracking behavior and prey preferences in a tree-climbing firefly
复制标题
DOI：
10.7717/peerj.8080
复制
发表时间：
2019-12-16
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Sato, Nozomu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sato, Nozomu
猎物追踪行为在捕杀蜗牛的捕食者中很常见，但在灯甲科中，这种行为只在一个物种中得到验证，尽管这个鞘翅目家族包括许多专门的蜗牛捕食者。地方性萤火虫金龟子是日本矢山群岛的一种主要杀螺天敌，幼虫经常在夜间爬到树上和草地上。这种爬树行为与幼虫的食物选择和陆地蜗牛的反捕食防御有关。这项研究考察了斑潜蝇幼虫是否能够追踪蜗牛粘液的踪迹，并通过替代选择实验检验了幼虫对猎物的偏好。此外，还进行了捕食试验，以评估哪些蜗牛物种是潜在的猎物。与蒸馏水或对照(非TRAIL)处理相比，赤眼蜂幼虫显著地选择粘液踪迹。此外，半树栖物种比地面栖息物种更受欢迎。在捕食试验中，幼虫捕食了10种特有蜗牛中的5种，这些蜗牛都是半树栖或树栖物种。地面栖息的独眼蜂科和Aegista物种具有有效的反捕食防御系统，由充满壳孔的盖子或“泡沫盖子”组成。猎物是否有盖子影响着灯蛾幼虫的捕食成功，幼虫的爬树行为可能是一种适应，用于寻找缺乏防御盖子的半树栖和树栖陆地蜗牛。此外，残留在植物茎上的蜗牛粘液可能有助于烟粉虱幼虫定位猎物。
Prey-tracking behavior is common in snail-killing predators, but in the family Lampyridae, this behavior has been validated in only a single species even though this Coleopteran family includes many specialist snail predators. The endemic firefly Pyrocoelia atripennis is a major snail-killing predator in the Yaeyama Islands of Japan, and the larvae often climb on the trees and grasses at night. This tree-climbing behavior is relevant to larval food choices and anti-predatory defenses of land snails. This study examined whether lampyrid larvae can track snail mucus trails and examined larval prey preferences using alternative choice experiments. In addition, predation trials were conducted to evaluate which snail species are potential prey. P. atripennis larvae significantly selected mucous trails over distilled water or control (no-trail) treatments. In addition, a semi-arboreal species was preferred over a ground-dwelling species. In predation trials, the larvae preyed on five out of 10 endemic snail species, all of which were semi-arboreal or arboreal species. Ground-dwelling Cyclophoridae and Aegista species have effective anti-predatory defenses consisting of an operculum or "foamy-lid" that fills the shell aperture. Whether the prey has a lid affects the predation success of lampyrid larvae, and larval tree-climbing behavior may be an adaptation used to search for semi-arboreal and arboreal land snails that lack defensive lids. Furthermore, snail mucus left on the plant stem may help the lampyrid larvae to locate their prey.