Abstract
The host–parasite relationship, Tenebrio molitor–Hymenolepis diminuta, was analyzed. The learning behavior of infected and uninfected (control) beetles in a T-maze was compared. The infected beetles moved much slower in the T-maze than the controls. The infected beetles reached the same level of learning as the controls. However, they needed more trials than the controls. The effect of the infection was already distinct after the first week and even higher after the second week. This indicates that the initial phase of infection caused stress in the beetles. Longer infection did not worsen their ability to learn. Thus, the parasites clearly changed the behavior of their intermediate host and probably made them more susceptible to their final host, the rat.
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Acknowledgements
This investigation was supported by INTAS grant 00-0685, the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, the Finnish Academy of Sciences, the Research Institute of the Foundation of the Åbo Akademi University, and the Foundation for Swedish Culture in Finland.
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Sheiman, I.M., Shkutin, M.F., Terenina, N.B. et al. A behavioral study of the beetle Tenebrio molitor infected with cysticercoids of the rat tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta . Naturwissenschaften 93, 305–308 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0103-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0103-4