ABSTRACT

In many animal taxa, the presence of injured conspecifics triggers escape or freezing behaviour. We examined these anti-predatory responses in the eriophyoid mite Aculops allotrichus from Robinia pseudoacacia. The mite was tested on leaflets in cages with two leaf chambers connected by a tunnel, on compound leaves, on which only two opposite leaflets remained, and on leaf discs placed on glass. We released females onto a site with freshly pierced individuals and allowed them to move to a “safe” place. Females did not escape from dangerous patches in any of our tests. They did not refrain from oviposition or become motionless in the presence of damaged conspecifics, either. On the contrary, in the test with old leaf discs, females prolonged their stay on “risky” patches. Additionally, after five hours the proportion of females in chambers with pierced conspecifics was significantly higher than in the control, and only after 24 hours were there no differences between the two combinations. It indicates that the presence of injured conspecifics is not a cue of predation risk for A. allotrichus. In contrast, the eriophyoid can be arrested on “dangerous” leaves, and possible factors underlying this phenomenon are discussed.

摘要

在许多动物类群中，受伤的同种异体的存在会触发逃逸或冻结行为。我们研究的eriophyoid螨这些反掠夺性反应瘿allotrichus从刺槐。该螨虫在笼子中的小叶上进行了测试，该小叶具有通过隧道连接的两个叶室，在复叶上仅保留了两个相对的小叶，并在放置在玻璃上的叶盘上进行了测试。我们将雌性动物释放到一个新近被刺穿的地方，并允许他们搬到“安全”的地方。在我们的任何测试中，雌性都没有从危险斑块中逃脱。在受损的特定物种存在的情况下，它们也不避免产卵或静止不动。相反，在使用旧叶盘的测试中，雌性延长了在“危险”斑块上的停留时间。另外，在五个小时之后，具有刺穿的特定物种的小室中的雌性比例显着高于对照，并且仅在24小时之后，两种组合之间没有差异。拟南芥。相比之下，类胡萝卜素可以被“危险”的叶子捕获，并讨论了造成这种现象的可能因素。