Abstract
Many membracid treehoppers are attended by honeydew-harvesting ants. Ant mutualism often favors group living, which will in turn influence social interactios and communication. I investigated aspects of life history that underlie the social behavior of an aggregating, ant-attended treehopper. The number of adults, and their patterns of distribution, changes dramatically over the course of a season. Despite the relatively low vagility and high persistence in the same clump of host plants, individuals encounter a wide range of social environments. This aggregating species differs from solitary species in the clumped distribution of females, and possibly in the intensity of acoustic competition among males, but both aggregating and solitary species exhibit large temporal changes in density. A high degree of temporal and spatial variation in the social environment is probably characteristic of many insects and may be an important source of selection on insect communication.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.References
Arak, A. (1983). Sexual selection by male-male competition in natterjack toad choruses. Nature 306: 261–262.
Bradbury, J. W., and Vehrencamp, S. (1977). Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats. III. Mating systems. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 2: 1–17.
Bradbury, J. B., and Vehrencamp, S. L. (1998). Principles of Animal Communication, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA
Claridge, M. F. (1985). Acoustic signals in the Homoptera: Behavior, taxonomy, and evolution. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 30: 297–317.
Claridge, M. F., and de Vrijer, P. W. F. (1994). Reproductive behavior: The role of acoustic signals in species recognition and speciation. In Denno, R. F., and Perfect, T. J. (Eds.), The Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management, Champman and Hall, New York, pp. 216–233.
Cocroft, R. B. (1996). Insect vibrational defence signals. Nature 382: 679–680.
Davies, N. B. (1991) Mating systems. In Krebs, J. R., and Davies, N. B. (eds), Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach, 3rd ed., The University Press, Cambridge, pp. 263–294.
Deinert, E. I., Longino, J. T., and Gilbert, L. E. (1994). Mate competition in butterflies. Nature 370: 23–24.
Denno, R. F., and Roderick, G. K. (1990). Influence of patch size, vegetation texture, and host plant architecture on the diversity, abundance, and life history styles of sap-feeding herbivores. In Bell, S., McCoy, E. D., and Mushinsky, H. R. (Eds.), Habitat Structure: The Physical Arrangement of Objects in Time and Space, Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 169–196.
Emlen, S. T., and Oring, L. W. (1977). Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems. Science 197: 215–223.
Fritz, R. S. (1982). An ant-treehopper mutualism: Effects of Formica subsericea on the survival of Vanduzea arquata. Ecol. Entomol. 7: 267–276.
Fritz, R. S. (1983). Ant protection of a host plant's defoliator: Consequence of an ant-membracid mutualism. Ecology 64: 789–797.
Funkhouser, W. D. (1915). Life history of Vanduzea arquata Say (Membracidae). Psyche 22: 183–199.
Funkhouser, W. D. (1917). Biology of the Membracidae of the Cayuga Lake basin. Mem. Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Stat. 2: 177–445.
Gwynne, D. T. (1987). Sex-biased predation and the risky mate-locating behaviour of male tick-tock cicadas (Hompotera: Cicadidae). Anim. Behav. 35: 571–576.
Haviland, M. D. (1925). The Membracidae of Kartabo, Bartica District, British Guiana. Zoologica 6: 229–290.
Hunt, R. E. (1993). Role of vibrational signals in mating behavior of Spissistilus festinus (Homoptera: Membracidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 86: 356–361.
Hunt, R. E. (1994). Vibrational signals associated with mating behavior in the treehopper, Enchenopa binotata Say (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Membracidae). J. N.Y. Entomol. Soc. 102: 266–270.
Hunt, R. E., and Nault, L. R. (1991). Roles of interplant movement, acoustic communication, and phototaxis in mate-location behavior of the leafhopper Graminella nigrifrons. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 28: 315–320.
Ichikawa, T. (1982). Density-related changes in male-male competitive behavior in the rice brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Appl. Entomol. Zool. 17: 439–452.
Johnson, M. P., and Mueller, A. J. (1990). Flight and diel activity of the threecornered alfalfa hopper (Homoptera: Membracidae). Environ. Entomol. 19: 677–683.
Masters, K. L. (1997). Behavioral and Ecological Aspects of Inbreeding in Natural Animal Populations: Inferences from Umbonia Treehoppers (Homoptera: Membracidae), Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
McEvoy, P. B. (1979). Advantages and disadvantages to group living in treehoppers (Homoptera: Membracidae). Misc. Publ. Entomol. Soc. Am. 11: 1–13.
Ossiannilsson, F. (1949). Insect drummers: A study on the morphology and function of the sound-producing organ of Swedish Homoptera Auchenorryncha, with notes on their sound production. Opusc. Entomol. Suppl. 10: 1–145.
Ott, J. R. (1994). An ecological framework for the study of planthopper mating systems. In Denno, R. F., and Perfect, T. J. (Eds.), Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management, Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 234–256.
Perill, S. A., Gerhardt, H. C., and Daniel, R. (1982). Mating strategy shifts in male green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea): An experimental study. Anim. Behav. 30: 43–48.
Strong, D. T., Antolin, M. F., and Rathbun, S. (1990). Variance and patchiness in rates of population change: A planthopper's case history. In Shorrocks, B. and Swingland, I. (Eds.), Living in a Patchy Environment, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 75–90.
Strubing, H., and Rollenbach, T. (1992). Vibratory communication of Stictocephala bisonia Kopp & Yonke 1977 (Membracidae) and Dictyophara europaea L. (Dictyopharidae)—Homoptera—Auchenorrhycha. Abstracts of the 8th International Meeting on Insect Sound, Pommersfelden, pp. 69–70.
Sullivan, B. K. (1982). Sexual selection in Woodhouse's toad (Bufo woodhousei). I. Chorus organization. Anim. Behav. 30: 680–686.
Vehrencamp, S. L., and Bradbury, J. W. (1984). Mating systems and ecology. In Krebs, J. R., and Davies, N. B. (Eds.), Behavioural Ecology, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp. 279–298.
Wells, K. D. (1988). The effect of social interactions on anuran vocal behavior. In Fritzsch, B., Ryan, M., Wilczynski, W., Heterington, T. E., and Walkowiak, W. (Eds.), The Evolution of the Amphibian Auditory System, Wiley, New York, pp. 433–454.
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Wolda, H. (1979). Abundance and diversity of Homoptera in the canopy of a tropical forest. Ecol. Entomol. 4: 181–190.
Wood, T. K. (1977). Role of parent females and attendant ants in maturation of the treehopper, Entylia bactriana (Homoptera: Membracidae). Sociobiology 2: 257–272.
Wood, T. K. (1979). Sociality in the Membracidae (Homoptera). Misc. Publ. Entomol. Soc. Am. 11: 15–22.
Wood, T. K. (1984). Life history patterns of tropical membracids (Homoptera: Membracidae). Sociobiology 8: 299–344.
Wood, T. K., and Dowell, R. (1985). Reproductive behavior and dispersal in Umbonia crassicornis (Homoptera: Membracidae). Fla. Entomol. 68: 151–158.
Wood, T. K., and Guttman, S. I. (1982). Ecological and behavioral basis for reproductive isolation in the sympatric Enchenopa binotata complex (Homoptera: Membracidae). Evolution 36: 233–242.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cocroft, R.B. The Social Environment of an Aggregating, Ant-Attended Treehopper (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Vanduzea arquata). Journal of Insect Behavior 16, 79–95 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022801429033
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022801429033