Feeding intensity of insect herbivores is associated more closely with key metabolite profiles than phylogenetic relatedness of their potential hosts.

ABSTRACT: Determinants of the host ranges of insect herbivores are important from an evolutionary perspective and also have implications for applications such as biological control. Although insect herbivore host ranges typically are phylogenetically constrained, herbivore preference and performance ultimately are determined by plant traits, including plant secondary metabolites. Where such traits are phylogenetically labile, insect hervivore host ranges are expected to be phylogenetically disjunct, reflecting phenotypic similarities rather than genetic relatedness among potential hosts. We tested this hypothesis in the laboratory with a Brassicaceae-specialized weevil, Ceutorhynchus cardariae Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), on 13 test plant species differing in their suitability as ho

SUBMITTER: Rapo CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6924328 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature