Isotopic fidelity of adult Pterostichus melanarius

tissues: plausibility of body cuticle and elytra as a

proxy for larval diet

By Joseph Taylor

Background: Biocontrol
Gradual increase in interest in biocontrol agents in
agriculture settings1
Range from pathogens to parasitoids and
predators
Generalists have been a general mixed bag2

OOOPS!

Pterostichus melanarius
Active ground
hunter
Common
throughout
Washington
agriculture
systems.
Documented
omnivore3
Reasonably well
studied

picture from www.trechinae.org

What about the larva?

Picture from www.pbase.com

Ontogenetic diet shifts (in

mantids)

Hurd et al 2015

Solution?
Obtain proxy for larval diet from adult tissue
Holometabolous life cycle
Elytra (fore wing) and exoskeleton might be locked
in upon reaching adulthood.

Fidelity can be measured by using diet switching.

Methods: Collection
Specimens collected from River City Farm
(Lewistion, ID).
Pitfalls placed and checked daily over 3 Day period
Obtained 3 adult and 1 larval beetle

Larval beetle and one adult sacrificed as baseline.

Method: Diet switch

Adult beetles placed in individual ventilated
containers
Adult beetles fed a diet of only sweet corn
Provided 2 new kernels every 2 days
Soil in containers changed every 2 days to control
for fungi growth

One adult beetle was sacrificed after 5 days and

11 days of corn feeding.

Method: Sample prep and

analysis
Each beetle separated into 3 parts:
Elytra
Abdominal exoskeleton
Fat tissue from abdomen

13 C and 15 N calculated for each body part

Isotope values for elytra and abdominal exoskeleton compared
to fat tissue as well as to the larval 13 C and 15 N values .

Results (vs fat tissue)

Results (vs fat tissue)

Results (vs larva)

Results (vs larva)

Confounders
Though corn is definitely C4, no idea where it falls
for nitrogen
Beetles are generalist omnivores: highly variable
diet
Beetle at time point 2 was less active
Possibly fed less

Adult tissues would be an indicator of larval diets

in previous season, not current season.

Conclusions
Elytra and exoskeleton show some potential as
larval proxy for Carbon but not for Nitrogen
Potential to greatly increase the data gleaned per
adult sample
Additional questions:
Does metamorphosis carry a fractionation?
Will a more rigorous feeding trial yield similar
results?

References
[1]Symondson, W. O. C., Sunderland, K. D., & Greenstone, M.
H. (2002). Can generalist predators be effective biocontrol
agents? 1.Annual review of entomology,47(1), 561-594.
[2]Lang, A. (2003). Intraguild interference and biocontrol
effects of generalist predators in a winter wheat
field.Oecologia,134(1), 144-153.
[3] Moulton, L. A. (2011). Using stable isotopes and visual gut
examination to determine the diet composition of
Pterostichus melanarius (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in western
Oregon vegetable row crops.
Hurd, L. E., Dehart, P. A., Taylor, J. M., Campbell, M. C., &
Shearer, M. M. (2015). The Ontogenetically Variable Trophic
Niche of a Praying Mantid Revealed by Stable Isotope
Analysis.Environmental Entomology, nvv004