Greig K, Buckley T R, Leschen R A B, Holwell G I
Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, 231 Morrin Road, St. Johns, Auckland 1072, New Zealand.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
Behav Ecol. 2025 Jul 28;36(4):araf064. doi: 10.1093/beheco/araf064. eCollection 2025 Jul-Aug.
Our understanding of visual camouflage has increased dramatically in recent years, however we know less about anti-predator defenses that exploit senses other than vision. Low light habitats, such as leaf litter, are more commonly dominated by predators that rely on chemical, tactile, and other nonvisual cues. Passive debris cloaking is a trait found in several arthropod groups that reside in low light habitats and appears as a layer of environmental debris that covers the cuticle. This debris accumulates passively as the organism moves through its habitat, generally via the secretion of adhesive compounds through specialized pores. We hypothesized that passive debris cloaking is a form of non-visual camouflage, and tested this experimentally using zopherid beetles as a model. Zopherid beetles are highly diverse in Aotearoa New Zealand and include many species that exhibit passive debris cloaking. By exposing zopherids with varying degrees of cuticular debris to colonies of foraging predatory ants, we found that passive debris cloaking (1) reduces detection by ants, (2) reduces the probability of attack if detected, and (3) is most effective when interactions occur on natural backgrounds. Our results provide evidence that passive debris cloaking is a highly effective form of non-visual camouflage, suggesting non-visual camouflage may be more prevalent in low light habitats than currently appreciated.
近年来，我们对视觉伪装的理解有了显著提高，然而对于利用视觉以外的其他感官的反捕食防御，我们了解得较少。诸如落叶层等弱光栖息地，通常更多地由依赖化学、触觉及其他非视觉线索的捕食者所主导。被动碎片伪装是在居住于弱光栖息地的几个节肢动物类群中发现的一种特征，表现为覆盖在表皮上的一层环境碎片。当生物体在其栖息地移动时，这种碎片通常通过专门的孔分泌粘性化合物而被动积累。我们假设被动碎片伪装是一种非视觉伪装形式，并以象甲科甲虫作为模型对此进行了实验测试。象甲科甲虫在新西兰极为多样，包括许多具有被动碎片伪装的物种。通过将具有不同程度表皮碎片的象甲暴露于觅食的捕食性蚁群中，我们发现被动碎片伪装（1）减少了蚂蚁的探测，（2）降低了被探测到时的攻击概率，并且（3）在自然背景下发生相互作用时最为有效。我们的结果提供了证据，表明被动碎片伪装是一种非常有效的非视觉伪装形式，这表明非视觉伪装在弱光栖息地可能比目前所认识到的更为普遍。
