Cycloalexy: A new concept in the larval defense of insects

Authors

Pierre Jolivet, Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville, FL
Joao Vasconcellos-Neto, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Philip Weinstein, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, S.A.5064, Australia

Date of this Version

March 1990

Comments

Published in Insecta Mundi Vol. 4, No. 1-4, March-December 1990. Copyright © 1990 Jolivet,Vasconcellos-Neto, and Weinstein.
Insecta Mundi, published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, is available online at http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/

Abstract

Anyone who has ever seen a Western will be familiar with the defensive tactics employed by the pioneers: The wagon train is formed into a ring, women and children on the inside, with the men firing out at the circling Indians. The larvae of some Coleoptera and Hymenoptera have long employed similar tactics, in defense against their predators (ants, bugs) and parasitoids (wasps, flies).