Bonacci Teresa, Brandmayr Pietro, Zetto Brandmayr Tullia
University of Calabria, Department of Ecology, I-87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
Zookeys. 2011(100):171-9. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.100.1525. Epub 2011 May 20.
Insects use various types of behaviour, chemical defences, mimetic, aposematic or cryptic appearances as anti-predatory strategies. Among insects, carabid beetles of the genus Brachinus are distasteful prey because they discharge an irritating "cloud" of quinones when threatened. These beetles live in aggregations and adopt warning (conspicuous pattern) colours and chemicals to create a template that is easily learnt by predators. Another carabid beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis, mimics the colours and cuticular profile of Brachinus and is usually found in Brachinus aggregations. In this paper we report results from laboratory observations on feeding choice of the following natural predators - Crocidura leucodon (Insectivora: Soricidae), Ocypus olens (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) and Podarcis sicula (Reptilia: Lacertidae) - on carabid beetle species. Comparing the number of attacks of predators towards aposematic and non-aposematic prey, there was a statistically significant preference towards non-aposematic prey.
昆虫会运用各种行为、化学防御、拟态、警戒色或保护色外观等作为反捕食策略。在昆虫中，步甲属的放屁甲虫是难吃的猎物，因为它们在受到威胁时会释放出一股刺激性的醌“云雾”。这些甲虫群居，并采用警戒（显眼的图案）颜色和化学物质来创建一个捕食者容易学习的模板。另一种步甲，背纹婪步甲，模仿放屁甲虫的颜色和表皮轮廓，通常出现在放屁甲虫的群体中。在本文中，我们报告了关于以下几种天然捕食者——白齿麝鼩（食虫目：麝鼩科）、臭阎甲（鞘翅目：阎甲科）和意大利壁蜥（爬行纲：蜥蜴科）——对步甲物种的捕食选择的实验室观察结果。比较捕食者对警戒色猎物和非警戒色猎物的攻击次数，发现它们对非警戒色猎物存在统计学上的显著偏好。
