Strong Evidence for Intraspecific Competition in Bean Beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus

 

Blumer, L. S., W. H. McGowan, B. A. Davids, & C. W. Beck

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2010, Volume 31

Abstract

Beck and Blumer presented a Major Workshop at ABLE 2008 in which female bean beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus, preferentially laid eggs on beans that did not have the eggs of another female. This behavioral response suggested that females were trying to avoid putting their offspring in competition with the larvae of other females. However, data on survival to adult emergence of eggs laid alone (no competition) or in combination with other eggs from the same female (sibling competition) did not demonstrate competition. New data collected by undergraduate students at Morehouse College provide strong evidence for sibling competition in C. maculatus using both large and small host bean species.

Keywords:  oviposition, bean beetle, intraspecific competition, sibling competition, limiting resource, oviposition substrate choice

University of Delaware (2009)