Resource defence of a beetle Ressourcenverteidigung bei einem Rosenkäfer |
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In a laborious undertaking, either sex of the rose chafer Tephraea dichroa opens stems of Solanum panduraeforme, working with tiny bites through the plant's epidermis to reach the sieve-tube tissue where it then feeds on phloëmic sap. Such a feeding place may be occupied by its owner for several days. Being a valuable resource, it is hotly contested and has to be defended time and again against newcomers. Fighting mainly consists of headpushing, representing an original fight type from which elaborate fights of horn bearing cetoniids are derived.
Tephraea fighting over a feeding place, demonstrating also the sexual colour dimorphism: female above, male below
Literature |