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Enhanced water conservation in clusters of convergent lady beetles, Hippodamia convergens
Author(s) -
Yoder J.A.,
Smith B.E.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1046/j.1570-7458.1997.00237.x
Subject(s) - biology , citation , library science , ecology , humanities , computer science , philosophy
Large dense aggregation is one of the most wellknown behavioral features by adults of the convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens (GuerinMeneville) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), where several thousand individuals clump together during diapause under leaves or debris or while feeding on aphids (Hodek, 1973). Living in an aggregation offers such benefits as defense and access to mates (Hodek, 1973), but are there other attributes that could be garnered as a result of group living? One possibility could involve water balance. The maintenance of adequate levels of body water (water balance) is a problem for all arthropods (Hadley, 1994), particularly for smallbodied insects such as lady beetles whose surface area is great in relation to their volume, which favors water loss (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1984). In adults of the tropical fungus beetle, Stenotarsus rotundus (Coleoptera: Endomychidae) the formation of large clusters during diapause (Denlinger, 1994) has a profound impact on water conservation by lowering water loss rates: as group size increases, water loss decreases (Yoder et al., 1992). It may be that lady beetles in clusters retain water more effectively than isolated specimens. Accordingly, we derived rates of net water loss for adult female H. convergens beetles in groups of different sizes. In addition, water content and dehydration tolerance limit were determined.