Humidity Response of Adult Oryzaephilus mercator13
- 1 December 1974
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Environmental Entomology
- Vol. 3 (6) , 961-964
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/3.6.961
Abstract
When adult merchant grain beetles, Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel), were offered a choice between 2 relative humidities, the direction (hygropositive or hygronegative) and intensity of the humidity response depended upon sex and upon the alternatives. Both sexes avoided very high as well as low humidities, but females were more hygrophilic. The response was a function of both alternatives, but the higher alternative was usually more important. The results showed that O. mercator is more hygrophilic than its congener O. surinamensis (L.), suggesting that because O. mercator is more vulnerable to low humidities, its behavioral avoidance of dryness has become more highly developed.Keywords
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