THE BEHAVIORAL ROLE OF MALES OF PLATYPUS QUERCIVORUS MURAYAMA IN THEIR SUBSOCIAL COLONIES
Abstract: The behavioral role
of male ambrosia beetles, Platypus quercivorus, in subsocial colonies both
field and laboratory has been investigated. The entrance tunnels, where the
male beetles are staying, are short, with a mean 4 cm long and mostly incline
upwards from outside to inside at an angle of around 20º. To examine the role
of males, another male or female (as the invader) was placed into a tunnel.
When inhabitant males stayed in the tunnel they quickly expelled the invaders,
regardless of their sex of the invaders. However, when an inhabitant male was
removed an introduced male or female could freely enter the tunnel and was
accepted by the inhabitant female. Upon replacing an inhabitant male with an
invader male or female and then putting another invader male or female into the
tunnel, no rejection occurred, suggesting that invader males and females play
no role in guarding the tunnel. Based on the results an inhabitant male seems
to have three responsibilities; protection of the gallery from invaders,
protection of progeny (larva) from falling down and also keeping the gallery
clean from frass. The 20º angle of the entrance tunnel tends to aid both in
gallery protection and in frass clearing.
Author: Hagus Tarno, Hongye
Qi, Michimasa Yamasaki, Masahide Kobayashi, Kazuyoshi Futai
Journal Code: jppertaniangg160011
