Diapause in a large aggregation of a tropical beetle

Abstract

Abstract. 1˜ Diapause is described for adults of Stenotarsus rotundus Arrow (Endomychidae, Coleoptera) in the tropical lowland forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.2. Diapause lasted up to 10 months each year, covering some 6 months of the wet season plus 4 months of the dry season. When in diapause the beetles clustered in an aggregation of up to 70,000 individuals on the stem of a palm tree, the same individual palm tree in at least four successive years.3. The habitat and habits of the beetle when not in diapause are unknown, but one or two generations may be produced during this period. Beetles returned to the diapause site from June until late August.4. Soon after arrival at the diapause site the flight muscles degenerated and did not develop again until February/March. The ovaries were undeveloped when the beetles arrived at the site and remained in that condition until the onset of yolk deposition in March. At the beginning of the rainy season in April the beetles mated and dispersed.5. Lean dry weight of the beetles did not decrease noticeably during diapause, but fat content did. It is suggested that the beetles do not feed, or feed very little, while in diapause. During diapause, the metabolic rate is surprisingly low considering a mean ambient temperature of 25° C.6. Juvenile hormone analogue (ZR515) stimulated flight muscle and ovary development. Daylength, when different from LD 12:12, initiated a partial flight muscle development, but there was no effect on the ovaries. Field observations suggest that neither temperature nor humidity had an effect on the termination of diapause.7. Although the development of both flight muscles and ovaries were stimulated by juvenile hormone analogue and both developed around March of each year, it is suggested that the mechanisms causing this development are different.