Egg load decreases mobility and increases predation risk in female black-horned tree crickets (Oecanthus nigricornis).

ABSTRACT: Female-biased predation is an uncommon phenomenon in nature since males of many species take on riskier behaviours to gain more mates. Several species of sphecid wasps have been observed taking more female than male prey, and it is not fully understood why. The solitary sphecid Isodontia mexicana catches more adult female tree cricket (Oecanthus nigricornis) prey. Previous work has shown that, although female tree crickets are larger and thus likely to be more valuable as prey than males, body size alone cannot fully explain why wasps take more females. We tested the hypothesis that wasps catch adult female tree crickets more often because bearing eggs impedes a female's ability to escape predation. We compared female survivors to prey of I. mexicana, and found that females carrying more e

SUBMITTER: Ercit K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4198256 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature