CC @franzanth.bsky.social here we go, this chrysomelid is INDEED "trenching" the leaf tissue to cut off the flow of gross-tasting sap/latex to its desired feeding area... - ThreadSky

americanbeetles.bsky.social • 10 days ago

CC @franzanth.bsky.social here we go, this chrysomelid is INDEED "trenching" the leaf tissue to cut off the flow of gross-tasting sap/latex to its desired feeding area...

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americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

I love that the author confirmed cyanide compounds were present using the cutting-edge technology of "having Anurag Agrawal smell it" (Dr. Agrawal is now what I would describe as "Cornell's new and improved Tom Eisner")

doctorscience.bsky.social•10 days ago

Did Eisner have a famously acute sense of smell?

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

Lots of plants have this "lactiferous" defense: insect bites plant --> plant delivers gross-tasting/poisonous goo to the damaged tissue to repel insect. NATURALLY hundreds of insect spp evolved workarounds, nicely reviewed here: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/1941110

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

If you live in eastern North America, you can see this if you watch a Tetraopes at work on milkweed leaves: the plant has linear, branching leaf veins to deliver toxic goo, so the beetle cuts thru them at the base then feeds on the leaf tissue "downstream" of the cut.

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

However, the Alocasia and Colocasia Franz spotted are among the only aroid plants with "anastomosing lactifers," that is, goo-delivery veins that connect to each other in a netlike formation instead of a tree-like pattern. (now we're getting into @roope.bsky.social territory)

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is why the beetles have to "trench" the leaves instead of just nibbling through the base of a long straight vein and going to town. The reticulate network of goo-delivery channels means that the beetle has to cut them ALL off to create a zone of tasty leaf tissue to eat.

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

Now, the invention of anastomosing lactifers in aroids seems to have been a game-changer in the long arms race between Bug and Plant; the aroid clade where it arose is much more species-rich than its sister group. But surely this would lead to MORE trenching behavior from herbivores...

dottiespeck.bsky.social•10 days ago

Well that’s just genius. I hope I remember to look closely next time I come across one.

jencross.bsky.social•10 days ago

Huh, now I need to find these beetles this summer and watch them more closely.

refinedplat.bsky.social•10 days ago

My god they're developing plumbing

thoggatt.bsky.social•10 days ago

I could trench a few things right now.

pinkgodzilla2.bsky.social•10 days ago

So from image B it serrates the leaf to hit each vein but leaves enough connectivity to consume the inclosure rather than fully cutting it so it falls to the ground? Am trying wrap brain around how it eats the center without dropping through.

franzanth.bsky.social•10 days ago

THIS IS BONKERS

americanbeetles.bsky.social•10 days ago

Right??

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