Behavioural interactions between the lizard Empha

Authors: Miyuki Fukudome Yoshifumi Yamawaki

Publish Date: 2016/04/18

Volume: 34, Issue: 3, Pages: 231-241

PDF Link

Abstract

The Japanese lacertid lizard Takydromus tachydromoides and the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia are sympatric generalist predators feeding on similar prey To confirm reciprocal predation between them we observed the behavioural interactions between the lizards and the mantises of different sizes in a laboratory condition The lizards caught small mantises from first to fifth instars but sometimes escaped from large mantises from sixth instar to adult Large mantises occasionally showed catch responses to the lizards The lizards sometimes caught the mantis without a tongueflick response sampling of chemical cues and they sometimes did not catch the small mantises showing immobile or cryptic responses that prevent visual detection These results suggested the primary role of vision on recognition of the mantis as a prey The lizards spent a longer time to approach larger mantises The time from orienting to catch was longer when the lizards showed tongueflick responses The lizard also spent a longer time before deciding to escape from the mantis than to catch it Biological significance of these differences in timing was discussedElucidating the interactions between predators and prey is essential to understand the foraging and escape strategies A predator–prey relationship is not always stable and can be reversed by ontogenetic changes in body size Woodward and Hildrew 2002 The ground skinks for example prey upon small spiders eg Brooks 1963 but adult wolf spiders can prey upon juvenile skinks Rubbo et al 2001 Although several studies have focused on this reciprocal predation eg Rubbo et al 2001 2003 little attention has been paid to its impact on foraging and escape strategies Animals under reciprocal predation need to assess potential prey and catch only proper prey for avoiding a predatory attack by the prey and they might have relatively complex strategies for foraging and escapeThe interactions between lizards and praying mantises can be a good model for investigating the effects of reciprocal predation and ontogenetic reversals on foraging and escape strategies The Japanese lacertid lizard Takydromus tachydromoides is an opportunistic generalist predator its diet consisting chiefly of insects and spiders and occasionally other small arthropods and gastropods Jackson and Telford 1975 After visual detection of prey the lizard approaches snaps kills and eats it Johki and Hidaka 1979 This predatory sequence is sometimes accompanied with tongueflick behaviour Johki and Hidaka 1979 1982 which is active sampling of chemical cues eg Burghardt 1973 Cooper 1990a b It has been suggested that birds and snakes prey upon Ta tachydromoides Telford 1997 The lizard shows several kinds of antipredator responses such as escape run fleeing immobility and tail waving Mori 1990 1991 The tail waving is thought to draw a predatory attack towards the tail so that the lizard can employ tail autotomy for survival eg Mori 1990 Rubbo et al 2001 Telemeco et al 2011 Takydromus tachydromoides is observed on various weedy zones such as grassland of paddy margin and wooded hillside Jackson and Telford 1975 Telford 1997 A small mantis is one of diets of Ta tachydromoides in the field Jackson and Telford 1975 suggesting that the mantis and the lizard are sympatricThe praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia is also an opportunistic generalist predator capturing many kinds of insect species Barrows 1984 The mantises detect prey mainly by vision and capture it with their raptorial forelegs Against their predators such as birds and lizards the mantises show various defensive responses depending on their developmental stage eg Liske et al 1999 Watanabe and Yano 2010 Small mantises tend to show immobility and cryptic responses for avoiding detection by predators while large mantises tend to show deimatic Maldonado 1970 and defensive strike responses for threating predators It has been suggested that a large mantis occasionally preys upon a small lizard Kevan 1985 Jackson and Telford 1975 However little is known about the effects of ontogenetic changes in body size on the interactions between the lizard and the mantis but see Hasegawa and Taniguchi 1996In the present study we observed the interactions between Ta tachydromoides and Te aridifolia of different sizes in a laboratory condition We addressed following three issues focusing on the lizard responses First to confirm reciprocal predation between them and ontogenetic reversals we examined the effects of mantis size on the responses of the lizard If the lizard catches small mantises but escapes from large mantises this suggests reciprocal predation between them We also examined the effects of mantis defence on lizard responses Second we analysed behavioural responses of the lizard in order to understand the sensory cues that the lizard uses to detect and identify prey If catching prey is not frequently preceded with tongueflick for example it suggests a primary role of vision in prey recognition Finally to investigate the foraging and escape strategies in the lizard we measured the time interval between lizard responses such as the time from prey detection to catch The time required for the decision to catch or to escape provides clues for understanding the decisionmaking processes in the lizardsA total of 12 adult Ta tachydromoides and hundreds of Te aridifolia were used without distinction of sex The lizards were collected in April May and June 2011 at the Hakozaki campus of Kyushu University in Fukuoka Japan Snout–vent length SVL of the lizards was ranged from 50 to 60 mm They were kept in plastic cages 40 × 25 cm and 25 cm height individually or in pairs under a 12 h12 h light/dark cycle at 25 ± 3 °C They were given access to water ad libitum and fed with European house crickets Acheta domesticus three times a week A UV lamp 13 W illuminated the cages to maintain healthy conditions for the lizards eg for basking After all the experiments were finished the lizards were released at the original capture site

Keywords: