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Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta

This paper documents the bizarre descending behavior from the tree crown to the ground of the larvae of the moth, Scopelodes contracta Walker (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae) and the interaction of the larva with predatory ants. S. contracta larvae infest leaves of many tree species in urban areas and orc...

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Autor principal: Yamazaki, Kazuo
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: University of Wisconsin Library 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3014736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20575738
http://dx.doi.org/10.1673/031.010.3901
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author Yamazaki, Kazuo
author_facet Yamazaki, Kazuo
author_sort Yamazaki, Kazuo
collection PubMed
description This paper documents the bizarre descending behavior from the tree crown to the ground of the larvae of the moth, Scopelodes contracta Walker (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae) and the interaction of the larva with predatory ants. S. contracta larvae infest leaves of many tree species in urban areas and orchards in Japan. Mature larvae and leaves without basal leaf parts were found under trees of four species infested with S. contracta larvae in Osaka, Japan. Individual larvae riding on leaves were observed falling from tree crowns to the ground. Many S. contracta cocoons were found in the soil below the trees two weeks after the observed parachuting. These observations indicate that S. contracta larvae parachuted to the ground where they spin their cocoons in the soil. When a larva that had just parachuted down was returned to an arboreal twig, the larva repeated the parachuting behavior. This parachuting behavior appears to be adaptive, because larvae can descend to the ground safely and with low energy cost. Worker ants of Tetramorium tsushimae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Pristomyrmex punctatus Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) occasionally attacked larvae on the ground before they had a chance to burrow in the soil.
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spelling pubmed-30147362012-02-09 Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta Yamazaki, Kazuo J Insect Sci Article This paper documents the bizarre descending behavior from the tree crown to the ground of the larvae of the moth, Scopelodes contracta Walker (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae) and the interaction of the larva with predatory ants. S. contracta larvae infest leaves of many tree species in urban areas and orchards in Japan. Mature larvae and leaves without basal leaf parts were found under trees of four species infested with S. contracta larvae in Osaka, Japan. Individual larvae riding on leaves were observed falling from tree crowns to the ground. Many S. contracta cocoons were found in the soil below the trees two weeks after the observed parachuting. These observations indicate that S. contracta larvae parachuted to the ground where they spin their cocoons in the soil. When a larva that had just parachuted down was returned to an arboreal twig, the larva repeated the parachuting behavior. This parachuting behavior appears to be adaptive, because larvae can descend to the ground safely and with low energy cost. Worker ants of Tetramorium tsushimae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Pristomyrmex punctatus Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) occasionally attacked larvae on the ground before they had a chance to burrow in the soil. University of Wisconsin Library 2010-04-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3014736/ /pubmed/20575738 http://dx.doi.org/10.1673/031.010.3901 Text en © 2010 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Article
Yamazaki, Kazuo
Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title_full Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title_fullStr Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title_full_unstemmed Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title_short Parachuting Behavior and Predation by Ants in the Nettle Caterpillar, Scopelodes contracta
title_sort parachuting behavior and predation by ants in the nettle caterpillar, scopelodes contracta
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3014736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20575738
http://dx.doi.org/10.1673/031.010.3901
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