[LEPS-L:8007] Re: Long-lived leps

Woody Woods woody.woods at umb.edu
Tue Nov 28 08:57:58 EST 2000


Chris, Richard, Tom (and others), thank you for the information. I would be a very
old graduate student indeed if I wanted to write the book on carpenter moth
larvae-- I wonder if Thoreau was talking about them when he wrote of insects
emerging from a walking stick or furniture or something after many years-- but the
notion of controlling biological time to cope with energetic constraints while
waiting for feeding or mating opportunity is becoming more intriguing the more I
look at it. For now I'll stick with adults for the sake of comparison, but the
other life stages are tempting. Are there consistent patterns, I wonder, in
factors associated with the evolutionary "choice" to spend an extended period as
an egg, larva, pupa or adult? Werner asked related questions when addressing the
reasons tadpoles might metamorphose at different ages under different ecological
circumstances. There seems a good deal to look at... confounding variables ahoy!

Woody Woods

Richard Worth wrote:

> For other heliconiines, check references by Gilbert and/or Singer in
> the 70's.  The work was about the ability of Heliconius to learn or
> something but I thought there was reference to how long certain
> species lived in there.
> Another group of moths that I believe are long lived as larvae are
> the carpenter moths (Cossidae).  The larvae are wood-boring insects
> (like cerambycid beetles; xylem feeders) and can live quite a while
> inside a tree.  Slow development due to poor diet?  I had a prof. who
> said don't study these for a graduate degree if you want to graduate
> any time soon.  Hard to find and long lived.
> Cheers, Rich
>
> >Anne, Ken, Ron, muchas gracias! My reason for asking about long-lived
> >butterflies, or moths for that matter, is that I am interested in the
> >ecological and evolutionary significance of resting energy use, and that has
> >led me to the odd task of measuring, well, insect breath, under unlikely
> >circumstances (them) and remote locations (me). Long lifespan has often been
> >associated, however indirectly, with lower resting metabolism, and that's why
> >I am looking for long-lived leps. I found one good example, the satyrine
> >Manataria maculata, where Bill Haber had found that adults of Costa Rican
> >populations live for nearly a year while migrating in reproductive diapause.
> >It turns out that Manataria's resting energy use is about half that of their
> >nearest regional relatives, when corrected for body mass. Live slow, live
> >long!
> >
> >H. charitonius is one I wish I had measured while working in Monteverde, Costa
> >Rica, but they haven't been found at that altitude (about 1500 M) and I have
> >missed out there so far. I understand their range extends to the southern
> >states, and maybe I can manage that.  Arctic moths I do know about, but right
> >now it's a separate (though fascinating) issue because they spend much time in
> >the deep freeze, a little analogous to Monarchs overwintering in Mexico
> >(thanks, Paul, for examples a few weeks back of other populations making it at
> >higher temperatures...). For Anthocharis pupae, maybe the question is partly
> >one of temperature and partly one of possible diapause. Pupae of the hawkmoth
> >Manduca sexta can have a very low metabolism, independent of temperature, if
> >they diapause, which they do in temperate regions.
> >
> >Thanks again, and I am grateful in advance for any further examples of
> >long-lived leps.
> >
> >Woody Woods
> >--
> >*********************************************************
> >William A. Woods Jr.
> >Department of Biology
> >University of Massachusetts Boston
> >100 Morrissey Blvd                      Lab: 617-287-6642
> >Boston, MA 02125                        Fax: 617-287-6650
> >*********************************************************
>
> Richard A. Worth
> Oregon Department of Agriculture
> Plant Division
> rworth at oda.state.or.us
> (503) 986-6461


--
*********************************************************
William A. Woods Jr.
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd                      Lab: 617-287-6642
Boston, MA 02125                        Fax: 617-287-6650
*********************************************************



 
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