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Skeletal economy in certain herbivorous beetles as an adaptation to a poor dietary supply of nitrogen
Author(s) -
REES CHRISTOPHER J. C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2311.1986.tb00297.x
Subject(s) - biology , scarabaeinae , carrion , herbivore , ecology , predation , scarabaeidae , zoology
.1 Flying Coleoptera were sampled with light traps from the tree canopy of lowland alluvial rain forest in Brunei, Borneo. 2 Adult chrysomelid beetles were found to carry significantly less skeleton relative to their overall mass than those of any family other than herbivorous scarabaeids (subfamily: Rutelinae). Xylophagous lucanids and cerambycids and dung‐feeding scarabaeids (subfamilies: Aphodiinae and Scarabaeinae) carried as large a proportion of skeleton by mass as predatory carabids and cicindelids. 3 Skeletal production requires the commitment of assimilated nitrogen to chitin and proteins. Adequate nitrogen is more readily available to predators, carrion or dung‐feeders, and xylophages (given enough time) than to leaf‐chewing chrysomelids, which are also environmentally exposed to predatory attack. Female chrysomelids were found to carry a larger number of mature eggs/insect than those of any other family. A larger proportion of their mass was represented by eggs than skeleton, as reproductive compensation for reduced skeletal protection. 4 It was estimated that a chrysomelid beetle required approximately 43% of the nitrogen incorporated by a predatory carabid of the same mass, whereas xylophagous cerambycids and lucanids would need between 84% and 98% of that in the predator.