Death feigning (or tonic immobility) is an effective antipredator strategy. However, prolonged immobility on the ground increases the risk of being parasitized or eaten by predators, and thus, insects must rouse themselves when appropriate stimulation is provided. Very few studies on the effect of stimulus intensity on arousal from death feigning have been conducted. A previous study using Tribolium castaneum showed an existing threshold for the intensity of the stimulus that causes arousal from death feigning. Whether there are differences between species in the threshold for arousal is an interesting question. In the present study, we, therefore, compared the effect of stimulus strength on arousal from death feigning in two closely related species, namely, T. confusum and T. freemani, which are established strains that have been artificially selected for longer duration of death feigning. Also, part of the study was to determine whether there was a positive association between intensity of stimulus needed to rouse and the duration of death feigning. We discuss why there is a difference in the strength of the stimulus needed for arousal from death feigning among Tribolium species, for which we included the data for T. castaneum from a previous study.

中文翻译：

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通过振动刺激从假死中唤醒：Tribolium 物种的比较

死亡假装（或强直不动）是一种有效的反捕食者策略。然而，在地面上长时间不动会增加被捕食者寄生或吃掉的风险，因此，当提供适当的刺激时，昆虫必须唤醒自己。关于刺激强度对假死觉醒的影响的研究很少。之前的一项使用 Tribolium castaneum 的研究显示了导致从假死中唤醒的刺激强度的现有阈值。物种之间在唤醒阈值上是否存在差异是一个有趣的问题。因此，在本研究中，我们比较了刺激强度对两个密切相关物种，即 T. confusum 和 T. freemani 的假死唤醒的影响，它们是经过人工选择的已建立的菌株，可以延长假死的持续时间。此外，该研究的一部分是确定唤醒所需的刺激强度与假死的持续时间之间是否存在正相关。我们讨论了为什么在 Tribolium 物种之间从假死唤醒所需的刺激强度存在差异，为此我们包括了先前研究中的 T. castaneum 数据。