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SUGAR FEEDING BY THE LARVA OF CHRYSOPA (NEUROPTERA)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

J. A. Downes
J. A. Downes
Affiliation:
Entomology Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa
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Abstract

The larva of Chrysopa, in addition to feeding on aphids, takes a sugar meal from floral nectar, honeydew or, in captivity, solutions of sucrose. Sugar sources are located by a questing activity during which it scans the substrate with the antennae and palps. Feeding on honeydew may lead the larva towards aphids, on which it then proceeds to feed, and this is perhaps a normal sequence in nature.

It is pointed out that this duality of the feeding process — sugar meal and protein-rich meal — seems to be unique among endopterygote larvae, although well known in many adult insects. The larval sugar meal of Chrysopa may be a secondary characteristic which originated from the use of honeydew as an indicator when searching for prey.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 106 , Issue 2 , February 1974 , pp. 121 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1974

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