Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:38:35.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparative food preferences of soil-, sand-, and wood-inhabiting wireworms (Coleoptera, Elateridae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R. Y. Zacharuk
R. Y. Zacharuk
Affiliation:
Research Station, Research Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a study of the larval feeding preferences of eleven species of Elateridae, representing Lepturoidini, Pyrophorini and Elaterinae, from soil, sand and wood habitats, all larvae were found to feed more on animal than plant food when these were offered separately. When given a choice, the larvae of only one species, Lepturoides linearis (L.), selected animal food exclusively and only those of Limonius minutus (L.) selected plant food exclusively. No consistent relationship was found between food preferences and taxonomic group, habitat, size, or morphology of the sense organs of the species. It is suggested that under laboratory conditions differences in food preferences among species are mediated primarily by differences in the physiology of their sense organs, and these may be an expression of different nutritional requirements among certain species.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , August 1963 , pp. 161 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Glen, R. (1950). Larvae of the elaterid beetles of the tribe Lepturoidini (Coleoptera: Elateridae).—Smithson. misc. Coll. 111 no. 11, 246 pp.Google Scholar
Horion, A. (1953). Faunistik der mitteleuropäischen Käfer. Bd. III. Malacodermata, Sternoxia (Elateridae bis Throscidae).—Ent. Arb., München.Google Scholar
Kring, J. B. (1959). Predation and survival of Limonius agonus Say (Coleoptera: Elateridae).—Ann. ent. Soc. Amer. 52 pp. 534–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, R. F. (1951). The larval Elateridae of eastern spruce forests and their role in the natural control of Gilpinia hercyniae (Htg.) (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae).—Canad. Ent. 83 pp. 133–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savely, H. E. (1939). Ecological relations of certain animals in dead pine and oak logs.—Ecol. Monogr. 9 pp. 321–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaerffenberg, B. (1942). Die Elateridenlarven der Kiefernwaldstreu.—Z. angew. Ent. 29 pp. 85–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zacharuk, R. Y. (1962). Sense organs of the head of larvae of some Elateridae (Coleoptera): their distribution, structure and innervation.—J. Morph. 111 pp. 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar