Web-Spinning Caterpillar Stalks Snails
Web-Spinning Caterpillar Stalks Snails
复制标题
结网毛毛虫追踪蜗牛
DOI：
10.1126/science.1110397
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发表时间：
2005
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
W. Haines
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Rubinoff;W. Haines
飞蛾和蝴蝶是最多样化的昆虫之一，但它们绝大多数是草食性的。只有不到0.2%的鳞翅目是专门的捕食者，这表明鳞翅目的摄食习惯受到高度限制。我们报告了一种夏威夷毛虫，专门以蜗牛为食，蜗牛是一种独特的食物来源，需要不同寻常的喂养策略。毛毛虫用丝来束缚活着的猎物。所有的毛毛虫都有丝腺，但没有一种像蜘蛛一样利用丝。考虑到毛毛虫饮食的渠道化，进化到攻击并以蜗牛为食是一种反常现象。夏威夷的隔离和因此产生的不和谐的生物群可能促进了其他地方没有的进化实验。
Moths and butterflies compose one of the most diverse insect orders, but they are overwhelmingly herbivorous. Less than 0.2% are specialized predators, indicating that lepidopteran feeding habits are highly constrained. We report a Hawaiian caterpillar that specializes on snails, a unique food source requiring an unusual feeding strategy. The caterpillar uses silk to restrain live prey. All caterpillars have silk glands, but none are known to use silk in this spiderlike fashion. Considering the canalization of caterpillar diets, evolution to attack and feed on snails is an anomaly. Hawaii s isolation and consequently disharmonic biota likely promote evolutionary experiments that occur nowhere else.