How Not to Be Eaten: The Insects Fight BackAll animals must eat. But who eats who, and why, or why not? Because insects outnumber and collectively outweigh all other animals combined, they comprise the largest amount of animal food available for potential consumption. How do they avoid being eaten? From masterful disguises to physical and chemical lures and traps, predatory insects have devised ingenious and bizarre methods of finding food. Equally ingenious are the means of hiding, mimicry, escape, and defense waged by prospective prey in order to stay alive. This absorbing book demonstrates that the relationship between the eaten and the eater is a central—perhaps the central—aspect of what goes on in the community of organisms. By explaining the many ways in which insects avoid becoming a meal for a predator, and the ways in which predators evade their defensive strategies, Gilbert Waldbauer conveys an essential understanding of the unrelenting coevolutionary forces at work in the world around us. |
Contents
Insects in the Web of Life | 1 |
Defensive Weapons and Warning Signals | 8 |
The Eaters of Insects | 11 |
Fleeing and Staying under Cover | 42 |
Hiding in Plain Sight | 54 |
Bird Dropping Mimicry and Other Disguises | 70 |
Flash Colors and Eyespots | 78 |
Safety in Numbers | 93 |
Protection by Deception | 156 |
Epilogue | 179 |
Selected References | 185 |
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abdomen adult animals antennae ants aphids aposematic attack bark Batesian Batesian mimicry bats beak bees beetles behavior birds blossoms body Brower brown brown creepers bugs bumblebees burrows butterflies camouflaged cardenolides caterpillars Catocala chemical cicada coauthors cockroaches cocoon conspicuous Cott dark deceptive defensive display disruptive downy woodpeckers dung Eisner escape evolved example experiment eyes eyespots false head feed females flies flycatchers flying insects front wings genus grasshopper green hind wings honeybees inches inchworms insectivores insects jays killed larvae leaf leaves legs locusts look males mammals mantis mealworm mice mimicry mimics monarch moths motionless natural selection nectar nest night North American nuthatches observed pattern peppered moth percent perch pheromone pipevine swallowtail planthoppers plants predators prey promethea pupae pupal red-spotted purple resemblance silk soil species spiders startle Sternburg sting tail thorax tree trunk twig usually venom vertebrates warblers warning wasps woodpeckers yellow