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The energetics of mimicry: the cost of pedestrian transport in a formicine ant and its mimic, a clubionid spider
Author(s) -
LIGHTON JOHN R.B.,
GILLESPIE ROSEMARY G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1989.tb00949.x
Subject(s) - biology , spider , energetics , predation , ecology , metabolic rate , ant , zoology , endocrinology
. Little information exists on the energetics of locomotion in small insects, and none in small spiders. We examined standard rate of oxygen consumption (SV̊O 2 ) and net cost of transport (NCOT) in Camponotus sericeiventris (Guerin), a formicine ant, Myrmecotypus rettenmeyeri (Unzicker), its clubionid spider mimic (mean masses 43 and 24 mg, respectively), and an unrelated clubionid, Clubiona barroana (Chickering), mean mass 37mg. All species are from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. NCOT in the species studied was 12, 21 and 27 ml O 2 g ‐1 km ‐1 , respectively; NCOT in the two spiders was significantly higher than in the ant. The minimum cost of transport of M. rettenmeyeri (8.6ml O 2 g ‐1 km ‐1 ), though low, did not differ significantly from the value predicted for an insect of its body mass, while its Y intercept elevation (estimated V̊O 2 at zero running speed/SV̊O 2 ) was extremely high. Y intercept elevation may be high in spiders as a group, leading to high NCOT at low running speeds, and hence to a tendency to adopt ambush predation. It is also predicted that, to minimize locomotion cost per unit distance, spiders will travel faster than insects of equivalent body mass.