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Food specificity in predacious insects: a comparative ecophysiological and genetic study

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Summary

Comparative ecological, physiological and genetic data from two hybridizable predacious species (Chrysopa quadripunctata andC. slossonae) illustrate that host (prey) specificity is based on a broad variety of genetically controlled traits. The array of traits parallels that found in host specific herbivores, and it includes: (i) female choice of oviposition site, (ii) adult dietary requirements for mating, (iii) large egg size, (iv) specialized larval behavior, (v) enhanced larval development, and (vi) univoltinism.

Considerable genetic variation, in both quantitative, polygenically controlled characters, as well as qualitative traits, underlies the differences between the general predator,C. quadripunctata, and the monophagousC. slossonae. The interaction between the predators and their prey is more consistent with the sympatric than the allopatric model of speciation, and theC. quadripunctata/C. slossonae case provides an excellent opportunity for testing various assumptions underlying the sympatric model of speciation.

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  1. Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, 14853-0999, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Catherine A. Tauber & Maurice J. Tauber

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  1. Catherine A. Tauber
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  2. Maurice J. Tauber
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Tauber, C.A., Tauber, M.J. Food specificity in predacious insects: a comparative ecophysiological and genetic study. Evol Ecol 1, 175–186 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02067399

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