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Sandfly stratification on tree buttresses in a Costa Rican tropical rainforest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Jane Memmott*
Affiliation:
Department of Pure & Applied Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
Stephen L. Sutton
Affiliation:
Department of Pure & Applied Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
*
1Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY.

Abstract

In humid forests tree buttresses and tree trunks are used as diurnal resting sites by phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae). When several species are present on the same buttress, the sandfly species are spatially segregated resulting in a pattern of vertical stratification on the buttress within 100 cm of ground level. A change in the distribution of one species induces a change in the distribution of an adjacent species. This is demonstrated under both natural and experimental conditions. Observations of sandflies at dawn and dusk have revealed that the buttress is used as a swarming site; this behaviour provides our favoured explanation for the patterns of vertical stratification on tree buttresses.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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