Fecal Deployment: An Alternative Way of Defensive Host Plant Cardenolide Use by Lilioceris merdigera Larvae.

ABSTRACT: The brilliant red Lilioceris merdigera (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) can spend its entire life cycle on the cardenolide-containing plant Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley) and forms stable populations on this host. Yet, in contrast to many other insects on cardenolide-containing plants L. merdigera does not sequester these plant toxins in the body but rather both adult beetles and larvae eliminate ingested cardenolides with the feces. Tracer feeding experiments showed that this holds true for radioactively labeled ouabain and digoxin, a highly polar and a rather apolar cardenolide. Both compounds or their derivatives are incorporated in the fecal shields of the larvae. The apolar digoxin, but not the polar ouabain, showed a deterrent effect on the generalist predatory ant Myrmica rubra

SUBMITTER: Baum M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10991028 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature