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Curr Zool

Title:		The fecal shield is a double-edged sword for larvae of a leaf beetle
Author(s):		Huang ZZ; Dong ZQ; Liang ZL; Zhang B; Xue HJ; Ge SQ;
Address:		"Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. College of Life Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Application of Hebei Province, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China. College of Life Science, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China. College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China"
Journal Title:		Curr Zool
Year:		2023
Volume:		20220408
Issue:		2
Page Number:		173 - 180
DOI:		10.1093/cz/zoac026
ISSN/ISBN:		1674-5507 (Print) 2396-9814 (Electronic) 1674-5507 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Larvae of some leaf beetles carry masses of feces covering parts or all of the body, which is called a 'fecal shield'. In general, the shield is thought to be a defense structure against natural enemies. However, some studies have suggested that defense effectiveness varies depending on the natural enemy. In this study, we used a fecal retention leaf beetle Ophrida xanthospilota (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), and 2 local generalist predators (an ant, Camponotus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and a stinkbug, Arma custos [Hemiptera: Pentatomidae]) as a system to test the hypothesis that the fecal shield of O. xanthospilota plays different roles in predation behavior of different predators and can provide multiple chemical communication signals in predator-prey interactions. Prey bioassays showed that the fecal shield of O. xanthospilota larvae repelled the ant C. japonicus while attracting the stinkbug A. custos. The results also strongly demonstrated that hexane extracts of the fecal shield significantly repelled C. japonicus, while dichloromethane (DCM) extracts did not inhibit ant predation. Interestingly, DCM extracts attracted A. custos, but hexane extracts did not. Therefore, we suggest that the fecal shield is a double-edged sword for the larvae of O. xanthospilota. Our results also indicated that the risk-benefit tradeoff of an insect should be estimated at a community level involving multiple enemies (predators and parasites) and herbivores, rather than in a single prey-predator pair"
Keywords:		ant chemical cues kairomone predatory stinkbug predator-prey interactions;
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINEHuang, Zheng-Zhong Dong, Ze-Qun Liang, Zu-Long Zhang, Bin Xue, Huai-Jun Ge, Si-Qin eng England 2023/04/24 Curr Zool. 2022 Apr 8; 69(2):173-180. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoac026. eCollection 2023 Apr"