Oligophagy
Oligophagy refers to the eating of only a few specific foods, and to monophagy when restricted to a single food source.[1] The term is usually associated with insect dietary behaviour.[2] Organisms may exhibit narrow or specific oligophagy where the diet is restricted to a very few foods or broad oligophagy where the organism feeds on a wide variety of specific foods but none other.[3]
Polyphagy, on the contrary, refers to eating a broad spectrum of foods. In the insect world it refers usually to insects that feed on plants belonging to different families.
Examples[edit]
The diet of the yucca moths is restricted to the developing fruits of species of yucca[3] while the sea hare, Aplysia juliana (Quoy & Gaimard), is found on and feeds only on a single alga, Ulva lactuca (Linnaeus) in east Australian waters.[4] These are both narrow oligophages. Conversely the migratory locust may be said to be broadly oligophagous or even polyphagous.[3]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ Sikkim sees surge in butterfly biodiversity - The Hindu
- ^ Oligophagy on Dictionary.com. Accessed on 9 January 2010.
- ^ a b c Huffaker & Gutierrez Ecological Entomology, pg 201.
- ^ Rogers et al (1995).
References[edit]
- Huffaker, Carl B. & Gutierrez, A. P. (1999). Ecological Entomology. 2nd Edition (illustrated). John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-24483-X, ISBN 978-0-471-24483-7. Limited preview on Google Books. Accessed 9 January 2010.
- Rogers, C. N.; Steinberg, P. D. & de Nys, R. (1994). "Factors associated with oligophagy in two species of sea hares (Mollusca: Anaspidea)". Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Volume 192, Issue 1, 17 October 1995, Pages 47–73. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(95)00057-X.
