Food Selection and Feeding Behavior in Selected Acridoidea (Insecta: Orthoptera) of the Canary Islands, Spain

• Published in: Journal of orthoptera research 1998-12 (7), p.1-21
• Main Authors: Gangwere, S. K., McKinney, J. C., Ernemann, M. A., Bland, R. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canaries; Food; Food availability; Forbs; Grasses; Grasshoppers; Plants; Shrubs; Specimens; Vegetation
• ISSN: 1082-6467; 1937-2426
• DOI: 10.2307/3503485

We carried out feeding studies on fourteen species/subspecies of grasshoppers belonging to six subfamilies on rugged, well-vegetated La Palma and on relatively flat, semidesertic Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Together, these three islands of the Canarian Archipelago provide a diversified, biologically interesting orthopteran fauna on which there is a paucity of feeding information. Our investigation involved a habitat analysis of selected stations and the following characterization of the grasshoppers living there: mouthpart adaptation to provide insight into feeding preferences; differential feeding tests to disclose feeding preferences under conditions of essentially uniform plant availability; and feculae composition to ascertain food selection in nature. Seven of the grasshopper species were phytophilous or thamnophilous, five were geophilous, and two were intermediate in their choice of perch; eight were essentially dicot feeders and six were grass feeders. The geophiles were noted to become scavengers on dried plant debris and sometimes arthropod remains in response to summer drought. Dericorys sspp. proved to be specialized feeders, largely on Chenopodiaceae. Our study of this limited assemblage of grasshoppers demonstrated a relationship between their food availability and food selection and suggested that food availability may be as important a factor as preferences in determining their host plant selection.