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The carabid Pterostichus melanarius uses chemical cues for opportunistic predation and saprophagy but not for finding healthy prey
- Source :
- Ferrante, M, Barone, G & Lövei, G L 2017, ' The carabid Pterostichus melanarius uses chemical cues for opportunistic predation and saprophagy but not for finding healthy prey ', BioControl, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 741-747 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-017-9829-5
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Springer Netherlands, 2017.
-
Abstract
- The sentinel prey method can quantify predation pressure in various habitats. Real prey is assumed to more realistically mimic the predator experience but the predator can rarely be identified. Artificial prey made of plasticine may lack real chemical cues, but provides information about predator identity. However, the relationship between predation pressure registered by artificial versus real prey is not clear. We tested the relative attractiveness of artificial caterpillars, and intact, wounded, or dead larvae of the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) for the carabid predator Pterostichus melanarius Illiger (Coleoptera: Carabidae). P. melanarius adults were attracted to dead caterpillars more than to live or wounded ones. Coating artificial caterpillars with caterpillar haemolymph increased their attractiveness. However, predators were not attracted more to healthy, real caterpillars than to “untreated” artificial ones. We conclude that using artificial caterpillars does not underestimate predation pressure by this carabid on healthy caterpillars.
- Subjects :
- insect behaviour
0106 biological sciences
Artificial caterpillar, Choice test, Ground beetle, Insect behaviour, Scavenging, Sentinel prey
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
law.invention
Predation
ground beetle
Saprophagy
law
Cabbage moth
artificial caterpillar
Caterpillar
Predator
Larva
biology
Ecology
choice test
scavenging
biology.organism_classification
sentinel prey
010602 entomology
Animal ecology
Insect Science
Plasticine
Agronomy and Crop Science
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Ferrante, M, Barone, G & Lövei, G L 2017, ' The carabid Pterostichus melanarius uses chemical cues for opportunistic predation and saprophagy but not for finding healthy prey ', BioControl, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 741-747 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-017-9829-5
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....48b97efdd86193a0fec97a6981e36cb4