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Effect of food water content on growth and reproduction of Carpophilus hemipterus (L.)
1991
Wu Junxiang | Wei Jianluca | Liu Shaoyou (Northwest Agricultural Univ., Yangling, Shaanxi (China). Inst. of Entomology)
Food wrapping by females of the European Beewolf, Philanthus triangulum, retards water loss of larval provisions Texte intégral
2008
HERZNER, GUDRUN | STROHM, ERHARD
Females of the European beewolf, Philanthus triangulum F. (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae), embalm the provisions of their larvae, paralyzed honeybees, with a secretion from a postpharyngeal gland prior to oviposition. This food wrapping is known to delay fungus infestation of the prey. In the present study, the hypothesis that the food wrapping has an additional function, namely the prevention of prey desiccation, is tested. Water loss of paralyzed but unembalmed honeybees and embalmed honeybees is measured and the composition and quantity of their cuticular hydrocarbons analyzed by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Water loss is significantly lower in embalmed compared with unembalmed bees. This might have important advantages for the larvae under the warm and dry conditions that prevail in some brood cells. The embalming by beewolf females increases the total amount of hydrocarbons on the surface of the bees by almost ten-fold. Moreover, the proportion of unsaturated and short-chained hydrocarbons is significantly increased. Unsaturated and short-chain hydrocarbons are usually less effective against water loss, so the increased protection against water loss appears to be mediated mainly by the thickness of the hydrocarbon layer.
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]Egg production of a brackish-water calanoid copepod Sinocalanus tenellus in relation to food abundance and temperature.
1986
Kimoto K. | Uye S. | Onbe T.
