Abstract
Animals must decide when to eat and what to eat. In adult insects the timing of this activity may conflict with other activities like mating, oviposition, or brood care. The decision of what to eat is made by assessing the physical characteristics of the food items such as color, size, shape, texture and toughness. The variable that plays the most important role in the decision process of what to eat is probably of a chemical nature (Slansky & Rodriguez, 1987). In many cases preferred food items do not directly increase the feeder’s fitness, and in some cases, they may even reduce fitness (e.g. Stoffolano et al., 1989, 1990; Tabashnik & Slansky, 1987) or cause death (e.g. Arlian & Vyszenski-Moher, 1987; Waller & La Fage, 1987).
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Mafra-Neto, A., Jolivet, P. (1994). Entomophagy in Chrysomelidae: adult Aristobrotica angulicollis (Erichson) feeding on adult meloids (Coleoptera). In: Jolivet, P.H., Cox, M.L., Petitpierre, E. (eds) Novel aspects of the biology of Chrysomelidae. Series Entomologica, vol 50. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1781-4_9
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