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Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum

Shelter-building behavior by caterpillars provides a mechanism of defense against predators, microenvironment enhancement, and in some cases nutritional benefits. This study provides a detailed description of the life cycle and shelter-building process of caterpillars, and identifies constraints and...

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Autores principales: Abarca, Mariana, Boege, Karina, Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25373186
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/14.1.39
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author Abarca, Mariana
Boege, Karina
Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro
author_facet Abarca, Mariana
Boege, Karina
Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro
author_sort Abarca, Mariana
collection PubMed
description Shelter-building behavior by caterpillars provides a mechanism of defense against predators, microenvironment enhancement, and in some cases nutritional benefits. This study provides a detailed description of the life cycle and shelter-building process of caterpillars, and identifies constraints and factors influencing this adaptive behavior in Lepidomys n. sp. near proclea Druce (Pyralidae: Chrysauginae), a tropical dry forest pyralid. Five macroscopic larval instars were detected during the life cycle, and activities performed during shelter-building were categorized and timed. Caterpillar predators were identified, and 20% of all collected larvae died due to attack by parasitoid wasps. Shelter-building behavior was found to be constrained by the ontogenetic stage of caterpillars and influenced by leaf size of the host plant, Piper stipulaceum Opiz (Piperales: Piperaceae) . A similar pattern of shelter-building behavior exhibited by Tosale n. sp. near cuprealis larvae that coexisted in the same host plant is also described. Larvae of the second species were significantly less abundant than those of Lepidomys and hatched one month later in the rainy season, which could indicate some competitive interactions between these two pyralid species.
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spelling pubmed-42062292014-10-30 Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum Abarca, Mariana Boege, Karina Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro J Insect Sci Papers Shelter-building behavior by caterpillars provides a mechanism of defense against predators, microenvironment enhancement, and in some cases nutritional benefits. This study provides a detailed description of the life cycle and shelter-building process of caterpillars, and identifies constraints and factors influencing this adaptive behavior in Lepidomys n. sp. near proclea Druce (Pyralidae: Chrysauginae), a tropical dry forest pyralid. Five macroscopic larval instars were detected during the life cycle, and activities performed during shelter-building were categorized and timed. Caterpillar predators were identified, and 20% of all collected larvae died due to attack by parasitoid wasps. Shelter-building behavior was found to be constrained by the ontogenetic stage of caterpillars and influenced by leaf size of the host plant, Piper stipulaceum Opiz (Piperales: Piperaceae) . A similar pattern of shelter-building behavior exhibited by Tosale n. sp. near cuprealis larvae that coexisted in the same host plant is also described. Larvae of the second species were significantly less abundant than those of Lepidomys and hatched one month later in the rainy season, which could indicate some competitive interactions between these two pyralid species. Oxford University Press 2014-01-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4206229/ /pubmed/25373186 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/14.1.39 Text en This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Papers
Abarca, Mariana
Boege, Karina
Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro
Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title_full Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title_fullStr Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title_full_unstemmed Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title_short Shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on Piper stipulaceum
title_sort shelter-building behavior and natural history of two pyralid caterpillars feeding on piper stipulaceum
topic Papers
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25373186
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/14.1.39
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