| reproductive effects and geographical distributions of two wolbachia strains infecting the neotropical beetle, chelymorpha alternans boh. (chrysomelidae, cassidinae). | wolbachia are maternally inherited endocellular bacteria known to alter insect host reproduction to facilitate their own transmission. multiple wolbachia infections are more common in tropical than temperate insects but few studies have investigated their dynamics in field populations. the beetle, chelymorpha alternans, found throughout the isthmus of panama, is infected with two strains of wolbachia, wcalt1 (99.2% of beetles) and wcalt2 (53%). populations infected solely by the wcalt1 strain we ... | 2004 | 15245413 |
| wolbachia modification of sperm does not always require residence within developing sperm. | wolbachia are maternally inherited intracellular bacteria known to manipulate the reproduction of their arthropod hosts. wolbachia commonly affect the sperm of infected arthropods. wolbachia-modified sperm cannot successfully fertilize unless the female is infected with the same wolbachia type. a study of spermatogenesis in the parasitic wasp nasonia vitripennis reveals that wolbachia are not required in individual spermatocytes or spermatids to modify sperm. in n. vitripennis, wolbachia modify ... | 2008 | 18648384 |
| the chlorophyll catabolite, pheophorbide a, confers predation resistance in a larval tortoise beetle shield defense. | larval insect herbivores feeding externally on leaves are vulnerable to numerous and varied enemies. larvae of the neotropical herbivore, chelymorpha alternans (chrysomelidae:cassidinae), possess shields made of cast skins and feces, which can be aimed and waved at attacking enemies. prior work with c. alternans feeding on merremia umbellata (convolvulaceae) showed that shields offered protection from generalist predators, and polar compounds were implicated. this study used a ubiquitous ant pre ... | 2009 | 19127385 |
| cuticular extracts from acromis sparsa (coleoptera: cassidinae) mediate arrestment behavior of the commensal canestriniid mite grandiella rugosita. | astigmatid mites in the family canestriniidae are often closely associated with tortoise leaf beetles (chrysomelidae: cassidinae). for example, the survival of the commensal canestriniid mite grandiella rugosita depends on dispersal to the cassidine beetle acromis sparsa. here, we tested whether the beetle cuticle provides chemical cues for host recognition for g. rugosita. in two-choice assays with cuticular extracts from a. sparsa and the co-occurring, non-host cassidine chelymorpha alternans ... | 2014 | 25224678 |
| dietary specialization influences the efficacy of larval tortoise beetle shield defenses. | plant chemical defenses and escape from natural enemies have been postulated to select for dietary specialization in herbivorous insects. in field and laboratory bioassays, we evaluated the effectiveness of intact and chemically modified larval shield defenses of the generalist chelymorpha alternans and the specialists acromis sparsa and stolas plagiata (chrysomelidae: cassidinae) against three natural predators, using larvae reared on two morning glory (convolvulaceae) species. we assessed whet ... | 2005 | 16001225 |