Factors Influencing Site Abandonment and Site Selection in a Sit-and-Wait Predator: A Review of Pit-Building Antlion Larvae

Scharf, Inon; Ovadia, Ofer

doi:10.1007/s10905-006-9017-4

Cited by 138 publications

(142 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(181 reference statements)

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“…Pit-building antlion larvae are especially appropriate animal models for such studies, since they are strict sitand-wait predators, experiencing high fluctuations in their prey supply. They are exposed to long periods of starvation and therefore should buffer those fluctuations in their habitat (Scharf and Ovadia 2006). Similarly to other sitand-wait predators such as spiders, antlions are capable of dramatically reducing their metabolic rates (Lucas 1985;Matsura and Murao 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A trade-off between growth and starvation endurance in a pit-building antlion

2009

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Trade-offs have a central role in evolutionary ecology and life-history theory. Here, we present evidence for the existence of a rarely studied trade-off between growth rate and starvation endurance in larvae of a pit-building antlion. We first manipulated antlions' feeding regime and obtained a spectrum of growth rates. Next, we starved the antlions and documented their rate of mass loss. Antlions growing faster during the feeding phase also lost mass faster during the successive starvation period, implying the existence of an induced trade-off between fast growth and starvation endurance. Finally, we fed all antlions with prey items of similar mass and measured both the giving-up prey mass (i.e. the remaining body mass of the prey that was not converted into predator body mass), and growth efficiency of antlions (i.e. proportion of prey consumed, negatively correlated with giving-up prey mass). The giving-up mass was negatively correlated with the growth rate of the antlions during the feeding phase, and positively correlated with their growth rate during the starvation phase (the opposite pattern was evident when examining growth efficiency), incongruently with the common phenomenon of growth compensation (i.e. extracting more of the prey after a starvation period). We suggest that antlion larvae can adopt a physiological mode bounded by two extremes: one extreme is adapted to starvation, involving reduced metabolic rates but also reduced capability to exploit prey, while the other is adapted to fast growth, allowing an efficient exploitation of prey, but at the expense of lowered starvation endurance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A trade-off between growth and starvation endurance in a pit-building antlion

2009

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“…The location of the trap is determined on the basis of a number of criteria, including prey density (Griffiths, 1980;Sharf and Ovadia, 2006), soil granule size distribution (Lucas, 1982), the density of other animals of the same genus (Matsura and Takano, 1989) and disturbance Assessing the architectural optimality of animal constructions is in most cases extremely difficult, but is feasible for antlion larvae, which dig simple pits in sand to catch ants. Slope angle, conicity and the distance between the head and the trap bottom, known as off-centring, were measured using a precise scanning device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of antlion trap construction

Fertin

Casas

2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY Assessing the architectural optimality of animal constructions is in most cases extremely difficult, but is feasible for antlion larvae, which dig simple pits in sand to catch ants. Slope angle, conicity and the distance between the head and the trap bottom, known as off-centring, were measured using a precise scanning device. Complete attack sequences in the same pits were then quantified, with predation cost related to the number of behavioural items before capture. Off-centring leads to a loss of architectural efficiency that is compensated by complex attack behaviour. Off-centring happened in half of the cases and corresponded to post-construction movements. In the absence of off-centring, the trap is perfectly conical and the angle is significantly smaller than the crater angle, a physical constant of sand that defines the steepest possible slope. Antlions produce efficient traps, with slopes steep enough to guide preys to their mouths without any attack, and shallow enough to avoid the likelihood of avalanches typical of crater angles. The reasons for the paucity of simplest and most efficient traps such as theses in the animal kingdom are discussed.

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“…Mostly, partially built buildings, abandoned houses, sandy areas are their favourite place to make pits. So many studies were conducted regarding pit building, foraging strategies etc., of which the pit diameter and pit depth are significant because it ensures the success of prey capture (Heinrich & Heinrich 1984, Scharf & Ovadia 2006. But the relationship between the larvae and its pits is somewhat new.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Analysis of Larval and Pit Size of Antlion (Family: Myrmeleontidae) with Short Notes on its Trailing Behaviour

2016

IJSR

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Antlion larvae makes pits in the sandy soil with their mandibles. The natural predators on ants, they have a special strategy to predate. Pit building in loose sandy soil is the fascinating behaviour pattern shown by antlion larvae. The relationship between the antlion larval size and pit size were analysed using standard software. A total of sixty pits were analysed for this study and the measurements were made. Twelve of them are non resident pits. From correlation analysis, a high positive correlation between larval body width and pit diameter and a negative correlation between larval head length and pit depth were found. Also instar determination was done by using highly correlated parameters. From this result, we can predict the larval size of antlions inhabiting a pit by using its pit diameter. Approximately the diameter of pit 1.2-2.2, 2.2-3.2, 3.2-4.2 have the larvae with body size 2.9, 3.4, 3.8 respectively. A short note regarding the trailing behaviour of larvae is also included. The trailing was started within 3sec to 50 minutes from the introduction of larvae to the soil and started from the centre to the north of the tray in every experiment.

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Factors Influencing Site Abandonment and Site Selection in a Sit-and-Wait Predator: A Review of Pit-Building Antlion Larvae

Abstract: There is a large body of evidence indicating that predator behavior may strongly influence patterns and processes

Cited by 138 publications

References 73 publications

A trade-off between growth and starvation endurance in a pit-building antlion

A trade-off between growth and starvation endurance in a pit-building antlion

Efficiency of antlion trap construction

Statistical Analysis of Larval and Pit Size of Antlion (Family: Myrmeleontidae) with Short Notes on its Trailing Behaviour

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