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
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
Defense Mechanism of Pachyrhynchus weevils.
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.

Min-Chen Lin

Min-Chen Lin

Title

Master student 2019-

Species: Pachyrhynchus

Pachyrhynchus

Project

Disruptive Camauflage of Colors of Pachyrhynchus Weevils.

Abstrct

E-mail:o58582626@gmail.com

Research Topic

Can Warning Coloration of Pachyrhynchus Weevils Function as Disruptive Camouflage?

Animal colors have many functions. Under different backgrounds, animal colors can change from warning to disruptive function. Disruptive coloration is a form of camouflage that uses body patterns to disrupt body outlines, create false boundaries, and interfere with predator’s identification. Pachyrhynchus weevils use two mechanisms to defend against predators, the aposematism and the hard exoskeleton. Field observations also found that when predators approach, Pachyrhynchus weevils feign death and fall to the ground. Most color types of Pachyrhynchus weevils are spots and stripes. Both color types can create false boundaries on their body outlines, but the stripe type may also have an effect of surface disruption, that is, the stripe visually divides the body into several segments. Therefore, the colors of Pachyrhynchus weevils can form false boundaries that disrupt the insect’s shapes under complex backgrounds. This study investigates the effect of disruptive camouflage of colors in Pachyrhynchus weevils and tests the defensive function of color patterns against predators. First, GabRat tool was used to quantify the degree of edge disruption in 37 weevil species under three backgrounds. Most of the species have medium degree of marginal disruption (GabRat values: 0.2-0.4). Only a few species have high (GabRat>0.4) or low (GabRat <0.2) degree of marginal disruptive. Especially when insects were on leaf background, they have low degree of marginal disruption. Secondly, humans were used as visual predators to test whether different color models have different degree of camouflage. The basic model was made into models with different degrees of marginal or surface disruption, and randomly placed on the background photos of different habitats. We present the picture on the computer screen, and use the Tobii 4C eye tracker to record the participant's search path, search time and model-finding rate. Preliminary results indicate that the stripe type has a higher effect of camouflage than the spot type, but the degree of disruption did not affect the effect of camouflage.

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