High road mortality during female-biased larval dispersal in an iconic beetle.

ABSTRACT:

Abstract

Animals often disperse from one habitat to another to access mates or suitable breeding sites. The costs and benefits of such movements depend, in part, on the dispersing individuals' phenotypes, including their sex and age. Here we investigated dispersal and road-related mortality in larvae of a bioluminescent beetle, the European common glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca, in relation to habitat, sex and proximity of pupation. We expected these variables to be relevant to larval dispersal because adult females are wingless, whereas adult males fly when searching for glowing females. We found that dispersing glow-worm larvae were almost exclusively females and close to pupation. The larvae were often found on a road, where they were able to move at relatively high speeds

SUBMITTER: Lehtonen TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7811152 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature