The effect of fasting and body reserves on cold tolerance in 2 pit-building insect predators.

ABSTRACT: Pit-building antlions and wormlions are 2 distantly-related insect species, whose larvae construct pits in loose soil to trap small arthropod prey. This convergent evolution of natural histories has led to additional similarities in their natural history and ecology, and thus, these 2 species encounter similar abiotic stress (such as periodic starvation) in their natural habitat. Here, we measured the cold tolerance of the 2 species and examined whether recent feeding or food deprivation, as well as body composition (body mass and lipid content) and condition (quantified as mass-to-size residuals) affect their cold tolerance. In contrast to other insects, in which food deprivation either enhanced or impaired cold tolerance, prolonged fasting had no effect on the cold tolerance of either sp

SUBMITTER: Scharf I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5804172 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature