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Body size and feeding specificity: macrolepidoptera in Britain
1Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Linnean Society of London
|March 3, 1998
Summary
Large moths are generally less specific about their food plants than small moths. This study tested five hypotheses for this pattern in British moths but found no significant support for any single explanation.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Zoology
- Entomology
Background:
- A general pattern exists where larger-bodied macrolepidopteran moths exhibit reduced host specificity compared to smaller-bodied species within geographic assemblages.
- Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this observed pattern, including phylogenetic relationships, latitudinal gradients, range size, environmental buffering, and host association strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate and test five proposed ecological and evolutionary mechanisms potentially explaining why large-bodied macrolepidopteran moths are less host-specific than small-bodied species.
- To evaluate the validity of these mechanisms using empirical data from British macrolepidoptera and existing scientific literature.
Main Methods:
- Data analysis of British macrolepidopteran species, focusing on body size and host specificity.
- Literature review to gather supporting or refuting evidence for the proposed mechanisms from broader scientific studies.
- Statistical and comparative analyses to assess the significance of each proposed explanatory mechanism.
Main Results:
- While some underlying assumptions of the tested hypotheses were supported, no single proposed mechanism demonstrated significant explanatory power for the observed pattern.
- The study found no conclusive evidence to support explanations based on phylogenetic relationships, latitudinal gradients, range size, environmental buffering, or endophagous associations.
Conclusions:
- The findings indicate that none of the previously proposed individual mechanisms adequately explain the relationship between body size and host specificity in macrolepidopteran moths.
- The study highlights the need to consider alternative or combined explanations, such as those integrating host quality and host defense mechanisms, to fully understand this ecological pattern.