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Chemical defense in the Chrysomelidae

  • Chapter
Biology of Chrysomelidae

Part of the book series: Series Entomologica ((SENT,volume 42))

Abstract

Antipredation mechanisms exist in nearly all animals, but are of course better developed in those which appear to be most vulnerable. Among them are phytophagous insects and above all phyllophagous insects such as leaf beetles. Due to their low food conversion efficiency (Southwood 1973), phytophagous insects spend much time feeding, during which they are little mobile and poorly hidden. Leaf damage to and feces left on the foliage could give additional cues to predators, including parasitoids (Weselok 1981). Many chrysomelids are food specialists and pass all or most of their life cycle on their food plant. The patchy distribution of the food plants and the low dispersion rate of larvae and gravid females are such that leaf beetles tend to form conspicuous aggregates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioecology, Free University of Brussels, 50 Av. F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Jacques M. Pasteels, Jean-Claude Braekman & Désiré Daloze

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  1. Jacques M. Pasteels
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  2. Jean-Claude Braekman
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  3. Désiré Daloze
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P. Jolivet E. Petitpierre T. H. Hsiao

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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Pasteels, J.M., Braekman, JC., Daloze, D. (1988). Chemical defense in the Chrysomelidae. In: Jolivet, P., Petitpierre, E., Hsiao, T.H. (eds) Biology of Chrysomelidae. Series Entomologica, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3105-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3105-3_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7896-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3105-3

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