Meeting Abstract

103-5  Thursday, Jan. 7 09:00  Camouflage Feeding: Leaf Bite Patterns Are Proportional to Beetle Body Size REN, JING*; KONSTANTINOV, A. S.; WANG, X. S.; RUAN, Y. Y.; YANG, X. L.; CHEN, RUI; HU, DAVID; GE, SIQIN; Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China; Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China; Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China; School of Mechanical Engineering and Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; School of Mechanical Engineering and Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China renjing@ioz.ac.cn

Life on a leaf can be dangerous. The distinctive body shape and color of flea beetles make them easily spotted by birds and other predators. In this study, we show that flea beetles bite leaves in particular patterns to camouflage themselves. We measure the hole dimensions of 29 flea beetle individuals (15 species) from South America. Beetles across two orders of magnitude in body mass bite holes that are one-fifth of their body surface area. Why is hole size so consistent? We perform time-lapse photography of feeding and micro-CT scanning of the gut. We find that hole size is constrained by two physiological factors, the mobility of the neck and the size of the foregut, which is of the same volume as that of the leaf hole. We hypothesize that these organs co-evolved in beetles to facilitate camouflage feeding.