No Indication of High Host-Plant Specificity in Afrotropical Geometrid Moths.

ABSTRACT: Specificity is one of the fundamental concepts in ecology. Host specificity of phytophagous insects has been of particular interest because of its crucial role in diversification and life-history evolution. However, the majority of tropical insects remain insufficiently explored with respect to their host-plant relations. A lack of respective data is also hindering the debate over whether higher levels of host-plant specificity prevail in tropical insects compared to temperate ones. We investigated host-plant specificity of forest geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in equatorial Africa using host-plant acceptability trials with neonate larvae, with the addition of field observations. We compare our experimental data to the (well-known) host-specificity patterns of closely related t

SUBMITTER: Holm S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6490970 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature