Dead acacia thorns: an undescribed arthropod habitat.

I. Rathet, J. L. Bronstein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Some 25% of the hollow thorns of Acacia collinsii and 29% of those of A. cornigera at Palo Verde National Park, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica were inhabited by arthropods. The fauna is composed of arthropods from 3 classes and 11 orders with ants, thrips, centipedes and larvae of various insect taxa most common. Overall, arthropods exhibited no trend towards use of thorns of a particular size or height on the plant, but Pseudomyrmex ants were found in larger than average A. cornigera thorns and centipedes in higher than average A. collinsii thorns. Several taxa occurred wholly or predominantly on one of the Acacia species. Hollow thorns appear to be an overabundant resource commonly available to arthropods once resident ants have deserted the dead or dying plant.-from Authors

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)205-210
Number of pages6
JournalAmerican Midland Naturalist
Volume118
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1987
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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