Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-xq9c7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-09T06:42:55.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SUGAR FEEDING BY THE LARVA OF CHRYSOPA (NEUROPTERA)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

J. A. Downes
J. A. Downes
Affiliation:
Entomology Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The larva of Chrysopa, in addition to feeding on aphids, takes a sugar meal from floral nectar, honeydew or, in captivity, solutions of sucrose. Sugar sources are located by a questing activity during which it scans the substrate with the antennae and palps. Feeding on honeydew may lead the larva towards aphids, on which it then proceeds to feed, and this is perhaps a normal sequence in nature.

It is pointed out that this duality of the feeding process — sugar meal and protein-rich meal — seems to be unique among endopterygote larvae, although well known in many adult insects. The larval sugar meal of Chrysopa may be a secondary characteristic which originated from the use of honeydew as an indicator when searching for prey.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 106 , Issue 2 , February 1974 , pp. 121 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balduf, W. V. 1939. The bionomics of entomophagous insects. Part II. J. S. Swift, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Downes, J. A. 1958. The feeding habits of biting flies and their significance in classification. A. Rev. Ent. 3: 249–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downes, J. A. In preparation. Sugar meal and protein-containing meal in adult Endopterygota.Google Scholar
Kawecki, Z. 1932. Beobachtungen über das Verhalten und die Sinnesorientierung der Florfliegenlarven. Bull. int. Acad. pol. Sci. Lett., 1932, B II: 91–106.Google Scholar
Killington, F. J. 1936. A monograph of the British Neuroptera. Vol. 1. Ray Society, London.Google Scholar
Matsuda, R. 1965. Morphology and evolution of the insect head. American Entomological Institute, Ann Arbor, Mich.Google Scholar
Rabaud, E. 1926. Sur la régime alimentaire des larves de Chrysopa vulgaris. La Feuille des Naturalistes 47: 164–167.Google Scholar
Rabaud, E. 1927. Etude biologique des larves de quelques Planipennes. Bull. biol. France Belg. (Paris) 61: 433–499.Google Scholar