Vollin Marina F, Higham Timothy E
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2023 Aug 23;17:1173065. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1173065. eCollection 2023.
Prey capture and subjugation are complex behaviors affected by many factors including physiological and behavioral traits of both the predator and the prey. The western banded gecko () is a small generalist predator that consumes both evasive prey items, such as spiders, wasps, and orthopterans, and non-evasive prey items, including larvae, pupae, and isopterans. When consuming certain prey (e.g., scorpions), banded geckos will capture and then rapidly oscillate, or shake, their head and anterior part of their body. Banded geckos also have large, active tails that can account for over 20% of their body weight and can be voluntarily severed through the process of caudal autotomy. However, how autotomy influences prey capture behavior in geckos is poorly understood. Using high-speed 3D videography, we studied the effects of both prey type (mealworms and crickets) and tail autotomy on prey capture and subjugation performance in banded geckos. Performance metrics included maximum velocity and distance of prey capture, as well as velocity and frequency of post-capture shaking. Maximum velocity and distance of prey capture were lower for mealworms than crickets regardless of tail state. However, after autotomy, maximum velocity increased for strikes on mealworms but significantly decreased for crickets. After capture, geckos always shook mealworms, but never crickets. The frequency of shaking mealworms decreased after autotomy and additional qualitative differences were observed. Our results highlight the complex and interactive effects of prey type and caudal autotomy on prey capture biomechanics.
猎物的捕获与制服是复杂的行为，受到许多因素的影响，包括捕食者和猎物的生理及行为特征。西部带纹壁虎（ ）是一种小型的多食性捕食者，既捕食逃避性猎物，如蜘蛛、黄蜂和直翅目昆虫，也捕食非逃避性猎物，包括幼虫、蛹和等翅目昆虫。在捕食某些猎物（如蝎子）时，带纹壁虎会先捕获猎物，然后快速摆动或摇晃其头部和身体前部。带纹壁虎还有又大又灵活的尾巴，其重量可超过体重的20%，并且可以通过尾部自切过程自行断掉。然而，自切如何影响壁虎的猎物捕获行为却鲜为人知。我们使用高速3D摄像技术，研究了猎物类型（黄粉虫和蟋蟀）以及尾部自切对带纹壁虎猎物捕获与制服表现的影响。表现指标包括猎物捕获的最大速度和距离，以及捕获后摇晃的速度和频率。无论尾巴状态如何，黄粉虫的猎物捕获最大速度和距离都低于蟋蟀。然而，自切后，捕食黄粉虫时的最大速度增加，但捕食蟋蟀时的最大速度显著降低。捕获猎物后，壁虎总是摇晃黄粉虫，但从不摇晃蟋蟀。自切后摇晃黄粉虫的频率降低，并且观察到了其他定性差异。我们的研究结果突出了猎物类型和尾部自切对猎物捕获生物力学的复杂交互作用。
