The relations between plants and phytophagous insects in the saltmarshes of northwestern Europe
Heydemann, B. (1985). The relations between plants and phytophagous insects in the saltmarshes of northwestern Europe. Mitt. Dtsch. Ges. Allg. Angew. Ent. 4(4-6): 244-247
In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie. DGaaE: Giessen. ISSN 0344-9084, more
|  |
| Abstract |
We can observe very specialized relations between phytophagous insects and most of the saltmarsh plants. There is a tendency to the evolution of semiendophagous and endophagous forms in most of the phytophagous insects in saltmarshes. We observe semiendophagous larval stages in Aphidoidea, and endophagous larval stages in Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, Lepidoptera, Cecidomyiidae; Agromyzidae, Chloropidae and some other diptera groups. In these taxa we found 85 per cent of the phytophagous species. Only the Heteroptera and Cicadina have ectophagous species. The endophagous way of life has many ecological advantages in the saltmarshes and can be evaluated as a very important ecological adaptation to higher and longer inundations and as a strategy for osmoregulation by presence of higher salt content of the flooding water. |
|
