COMPARATIVE-STUDY ON THE BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSE TO STARVATION IN 3 SPECIES OF ANTLION LARVAE (NEUROPTERA, MYRMELEONTIDAE)

To clarify how pit-building antlion larvae behave during prolonged per iods of low resource abundance, pit relocation rate, giving-up time, a nd respiration rate under starvation conditions were examined, using t hree species of antlion larvae. Most larvae of Myrmeleon bore never re located their pits before they starved to death, while larvae of Hagen omyia micans relocated more often than Myrmeleon formicarius (average number of pit relocations 0.04 for M. bore, 0.19 for M. formicarius, a nd 0.62/individual/10 days for H. micans). The relative respiration ra te, a ratio of respiration rate at starvation to that at satiation, wa s lower in M. bore and M. formicarius than in H. micans. Thus, there w as an inversely proportional relationship between the pit relocation r ate and the decrease in respiration rate under starvation conditions i n the three species of antlion larvae.