Behavioural differences in predator aware and predator naive Wellington tree weta, Hemideina crassidens.

ABSTRACT: Insects have evolved a wide range of behavioural traits to avoid predation, with anti-predator behaviours emerging as important adaptive responses to the specific strategies employed by predators. These responses may become ineffective, however, when a species is introduced to a novel predator type. When individuals cannot recognise an introduced predator for instance, they may respond in ways that mean they fail to avoid, escape, or neutralize a predator encounter. New Zealand's endemic insect fauna evolved in the absence of terrestrial mammalian predators for millions of years, resulting in the evolution of unique fauna like the large, flightless Orthopteran, the wētā. Here we investigate how experience with introduced mammalian predators might influence anti-predator behaviours by compa

SUBMITTER: Kelly M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10199174 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature