Abstract
Feeding tests with loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) showed this bird to acceptUtetheisa ornatrix, a moth (Arctiidae) protected by pyrrolizidine alkaloids, but to avoidLytta polita, a beetle (Meloidae) containing cantharidin.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blum, M.S. 1981. Chemical Defenses of Arthropods. Academic Press, New York.
Bogner, F., andEisner, T. 1991. Chemical basis of egg cannibalism in a caterpillar (Utetheisa ornatrix).J. Chem. Ecol. 17:2063–2075.
Carrel, J.E. 1971. Arthropod chemical defenses with both immediate and delayed effects. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Carrel, J.E., andEisner, T. 1974. Cantharidin: potent feeding deterrent to insects.Science 183:755–757.
Carrel, J.E., Wood, J.M., Yang, Z., McCairel, M.H., andHindman, E.E. 1990. Diet, body water, and hemolymph content in the blister beetleLytta polita (Coleoptera: Meloidae).Environ. Entomol. 19:1283–1288.
Conner, W.E., Roach, B., Benedict, E., Meinwald, J., andEisner, T. 1990. Courtship pheromone production and body size as correlates of larval diet in males of the arctiid moth,Utetheisa ornatrix.J. Chem. Ecol. 16:543–552.
Eisner, T., andMeinwald, J. 1995. The chemistry of sexual selection.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92:50–55.
Glendinning, J.I., Brower, L.P., andMontgomery, C.A. 1990. Responses of three mouse species to deterrent chemicals in the monarch butterfly. I. Taste and toxicity tests using artificial diets laced with digitoxin or monocrotaline.Chemoecology 1:114–123.
Hartman, T. 1991. Alkaloids, pp. 79–121,in G.A. Rosenthal and M.R. Berenbaum (eds.). Herbivores: Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites. Academic Press, New York.
Kaiser, E., andMichl, H. 1958. Die Biochemie der tierischen Gifte. Franz Deuticke, Wien, Austria.
Mattocks, A.R. 1972. Toxicity and metabolism ofSenecio alkaloids. pp. 179–200,in J.B. Harborne (ed.). Phytochemical Ecology. Academic Press, New York.
McCormick, J.P., andCarrel, J.E. 1987. Cantharidin biosynthesis and function in meloid beetles, pp. 307–350,in G.D. Prestwich and G.J. Blomquist (eds). Pheromone Biochemistry, Academic Press, New York.
Miller, J.R., Baker, T.C., Carde, R.T., andRoelofs, W.L. 1976. Reinvestigation of oak leaf roller sex pheromone components and the hypothesis that they vary with diet.Science 192:140–142.
Yosef, R., andGrub, T.C., Jr. 1993. Effect of vegetation height on hunting behavior and diet of loggerhead shrikes.Condor 95:127–131.
Yosef, R., andLohrer, F.E. 1992. A composite treadle/bal-chatri trap for loggerhead shrikes.Wildl. Soc. Bull. 20:116–118.
Yosef, R., andWhitman, D.W. 1992. Predator exaptations and defensive adaptations in evolutionary balance: no defense is perfect.Evol. Ecol. 6:527–536.
Yosef, R., Layne, J.N., andLohrer, F.E. 1993. Trends in numbers of loggerhead shrikes on roadside censuses in peninsular Florida 1974–1992.Fla. Sci. 56:92–97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Paper no. 130 of the series Defense Mechanisms of Arthropods; no. 129 is T. Eisner and J. Meinwald,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92:50–55, 1995.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yosef, R., Carrel, J.E. & Eisner, T. Contrasting reactions of loggerhead shrikes to two types of chemically defended insect prey. J Chem Ecol 22, 173–181 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02055090
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02055090