Member list
Current members
- Lan-Wei Yeh
- Ecology and evolution of Taiwanese Carabus ground beetles.
- Chung-Hsin Huang
- Master topic: Flucuating Asymmetry and Developmental Asymmetry of Cyclommatus mniszechi; PhD topic: Evolution of Mandible Morphology and Fighting Behavior in Stag Beetles
- Ying-Yuan Lo
- Systematics, Behavior and Evolution of Lynx Spiders.
- Leocris Batucan Jr.
- New Species and DNA Barcoding of the Mayfly (Ephemeroptera) in Mt. Malindang, Mindanao, Philippines.
- Chun-Yu Lin
- Parasitoid Wasps of Damselflies; Phylogenetics and Evolution Histories of Treehoppers
- Hsu-Yi Lin
- Fighting Behavior of Odontolabis siva parryi Stag Beetles
- Sheng Lin
- Transcriptome Profiling Psolodesmus mandarinus mandarinus Damselfly
- Pei-Hsuan Chang
- Thermal Adaptation and Habitat Preference of Psolodesmus mandarinus Damselfly
- Min-Chen Lin
- Disruptive Camauflage of Colors of Pachyrhynchus Weevils.
- Masahiko Tanahashi
- Ecology and Evolution of Pachyrhynchus Weevils.
- Su-Ping Lin
- Symbiotic Yeasts of Stag Beetles
- Jun-Ying Wang
- Conservation of Mortonagrion hirosei Damselflies
- Chin-Han Hsiao
- Fighting Behavior of Rhaetulus crenatus Stag Beetles
- Wei-Zhe Tseng
- Systematics and Evolution of Weevils
- Cheng-Tse Yung
- Maternal Gift of Pachyrhynchus sarcitis Weevils
Past members
- Jo-Fan Wang
- Territorial behavior, trait evolution.
- Yu-Hsun Hsu
- Mating strategy, behavioural ecology, molecular ecology, population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, biostatistics.
- Yi-Shou Yang
- Reproductive Isolation of Psolodesmus mandarinus subspecies.
- Wataru Kojima
- Evolution of male sexual traits in Taiwanese scarab beetles.
- Zhen-Yi Chen
- Fighting behavior and reproductive strategy of stag beetles.
- Teng-Yu Liu
- Fighting behaviour and life history observation of a stag beetle Rhaetulus crenatus crenatus.
- Princess Angelie S. Casas
- Insect Diversity and Evolution
- Lu-Yi Wang
- Hui-Yun Tseng
- Aposematic coloration, island biogeography.
- Yu-Jen Yu
- Variation and Adaptation of wings.
- Yen-Ting Chen
- Systematics and evolution of insects.
- Yun-Chieh Cheng
- Damselfly larval diet, molecular evolution.
- Tai-Chia Chiang
- The effect of aposematic colors of Pachyrhynchus weevils on avian predators.
- Yong-Chao Su
- Behavioral ecology, sociobiology, population genetics, and molecular phylogenetics.
- I-Ting Hsiao
- Variation of genitalia in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Jyun-Huei Huang
- The fighting behavior of a stag beetle, Rhaetulus crenatus.
- Shi-Ting Wu
- Membracis Phyllotropis.
- Chiao-Wei Lin
- The fighting behavior of a stag beetle, Rhaetulus crenatus.
- Wei-Liang Xiao
- Variation of wing veins in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Hung-Nien Chen
- 1. The effect of typhoon on survivalship of Matrona cyanoptera. 2. Modes of phenotypic variation in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Chu-Yen Cheng
- Phylogeography of a Philippine's treehopper, Leptocentrus reponens.
- Che-Yu Kuan
- Variation of mandibles in stag beetles.
- Yat-Hung Lee
- Speciation of Euphaea damselflies.
- Ming-Yu Chen
- Phylogeography and population history of the treehoppers, Centrochares horifficus from the Philippines Archipelago.
- Shao-Chang Huang
- Visual Communication of Matrona cyanoptera
- Jen-Pan Huang
- Population Genetics and Phylogeographic Analyses of Formosan Damselfly, Euphaea Formosa (Insecta: Odonata: Euphaeidae) from Taiwan
- Wei-Yun Chen
- Molecular and Phylogenetic Characterization of Endosymbiotic Bacteria of the Froghopper, Okiscarta uchidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cercopidae)
Visiting scholars and students
- Jillian del Sol
- Behavioral Ecology; Mating System Ecology; Weapon Ecology and Evolution; Evolutionary Biology
- Ian Dela Cruz
- New Species and DNA Barcoding of the Stonefly (Plecoptera) in Mt. Malindang, Mindanao, Philippines.
- Shinya Komata
- Ecology & Evolution of Wing Polymorphism in a Mimetic Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio memnon.
- Vanitha Williams
- Predatory potential of waterbug, Diplonychus rusticus and dragonfly, Diplacodes trivialis on mosquito larvae.
- Marina Vilenica
- Dragonfly composition (Insecta, Odonata) in wetland area of Turopolje region, Croatia
- Klaas-Douwe 'KD' B. Dijkstra
- History, diversity and identification of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata).
- Erin McCullough
- " Diversification of weapon form: aerodynamic costs of beetle horns.
- Ashley E. King
- Intrasexual combat and intersexual antagonistic co-evolution in horned beetles.
Lu-Yi Wang
Title
Master Student 2015-
Species: Pachyrhynchus
Project
Defense Mechanism of Pachyrhynchus weevils.
Abstrct
E-mail：lu1200120012011@gmail.com
Aposematic species often have a repellent secondary defense along with conspicuous coloration. As now we know that the colorful patterns on Pachyrhynchus weevils serve as warning signals against the predation of lizards (Tseng et al., 2014), we wonder what defense mechanisms have been evolved in these species. We will examine three hypotheses: 1) Morphological defense: Pachyrhynchus are too hard to be eaten. 2) Behavioral defense: The hooks at the end of the tarsus of Pachyrhynchus may play a role in defense. 3) Chemical defense: There are chemicals in Pachyrhynchus that are repellent or toxic to predators. Among these three possible mechanisms, we consider morphological defense to be the primary method that Pachyrhynchus uses to deter predators. Behavioral defense might be a supplementary strategy. Since there is no specialized secretory gland found in Pachyrhynchus weevils, the chemical defense hypothesis was excluded. This research project aim to provide empirical evidences to support that it is the physical hardness that plays the important role as main secondary defense, and this is the message that Pachyrhynchus weevils deliver with their aposematic coloration.
Aposematic species often have a repellent secondary defense associated with conspicuous coloration. The colorful patterns of Pachyrhynchus weevils have been found to serve as warning signals against the predation of lizards. This study focused on the defense mechanisms of Pachyrhynchus weevils in Taiwan. Here, we tested three hypotheses: (1) The morphological defense: Pachyrhynchus are too hard to beeaten. (2) The behavioral defense: The claws at the end of the tarsus of Pachyrhynchus in couple with behavior may play a role in defense. (3) The chemical defense: There are chemicals in Pachyrhynchus that are repellent or toxic to attacking predators. We first compared the hardness of Pachyrhynchus with other sympatric prey of the lizard. Next, we performed manipulative experiments to test the importance of the hardness and claws in defense. Finally, we utilized GC-MS to analyze the chemical profile of Pachyrhynchus and compared these compounds with chemicals that other insects use as deterrents. Among these three possible defenses, we found that Pachyrhynchus use the hardness of exoskeleton as primary defense to deter predators. The grasping with tarsal claws is not an effective defense mechanism for lizards. Since there is no specialized secretory gland nor chemicals found in Pachyrhynchus weevils, the chemical defense hypothesis was excluded. Our findings provided the first empirical evidence to support that the physical hardness is the main secondary defense, underlying their aposematic coloration.
Comparison of hardness and insect prey and bite force of lizard.