Water Balance and Temperature Preferences, and Their Role in Regulating Activity Times of Tenebrionid Beetles
- 1 January 1983
- Vol. 40 (1) , 113-119
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3544205
Abstract
Temperature preferences were determined for 9 spp. [Eleodes armata, E. obscura, E. longicollis, E. dissimilis, E. obsoleta, Stenomorpha marginata, Gonasida elata, S. obovata and Coelocnemis magna] of tenebrionid beetles in a laboratory temperature gradient. Water loss rates were determined for 8 of those species. No clear-cut relationship was found among temperature preference, water loss rate, and habitat in which species is found. Two populations of E. longicollis from 2 separate habitats had comparable water loss rates. Within each species, however, water loss rates differed between living and dead beetles. At its mean preferred temperature, each species lost water at the same rate as every other species. Water loss rates and temperature preferences may determine activity times, with a species becoming active at a time when the ground temperature falls within a range of water loss that provides a trade-off between water conservation and temperatures sufficiently high for efficient metabolic and behavioral processes.This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Habitat Use by Mimetic Coastal Tenebrionid BeetlesThe American Midland Naturalist, 1978
- The Structure of Lizard CommunitiesAnnual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1973