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Mining pattern of the honeysuckle leaf‐miner Phytomyza lonicerae
Author(s) -
Katô Makoto
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
population ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1438-390X
pISSN - 1438-3896
DOI - 10.1007/bf02515509
Subject(s) - biology , leaf miner , parasitoid , backtracking , leaf beetle , horticulture , larva , botany , mathematics , algorithm
Summary The mining pattern of the honeysuckle leaf‐miner Phytomyza lonicerae which feeds on Lonicera gracilipes was analyzed with special reference to the avoidance of parasitoids' attacks. The leaf‐miner makes the linear mine with branches and crosses by turning and branching, off the backtracking mine. Both average numbers of turnings and branchings were about 4. The speed of mining was 1.5 times faster in backtracking than in advancing. The mine width increased as the mining larva grew and total volume of consumed plant tissue was nearly constant independent of variability of the number of turnings and other characteristics of the mine. The majority of larval mortality were due to attacks by parasitoid wasps ( Chrysochairs pentheus and Diglyphus minoeus ), which locate the present position of leaf‐miners, by tracing mine tracks, and wasps attack leaf‐miners at a higher rate in backtracking than in advancing. The adaptive significance of branching and crossing by leaf‐miners was discussed in terms of the reduction of parasitoids' attacks.