Endogenous toxins and the coupling of gregariousness to conspicuousness in Argidae and Pergidae sawflies.

ABSTRACT: Phytophagous insects tend to be either cryptic and solitary, or brightly colored and gregarious, as a defense against vertebrate predators. Here, we tested whether potent defensive chemicals produced de novo by larvae of Argidae and Pergidae sawflies have influenced the evolutionary relationship between larval appearance and levels of gregariousness. Phylogeny-based correlation analyses indicated only a weak trend for solitary species to be cryptic, and for gregarious ones to be conspicuous. Numerous Argidae were cryptic-solitary or conspicuous-gregarious, whereas most Pergidae were conspicuous-gregarious. Both families also included not truly gregarious but aggregated species, i.e. with individuals more evenly distributed on the host plant. By considering two specific morphological traits

SUBMITTER: Boeve JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6281571 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature