首页|Do predators prefer toxic animals?A case of chemical discrimination by an Asian snake that sequesters firefly toxins

Do predators prefer toxic animals?A case of chemical discrimination by an Asian snake that sequesters firefly toxins

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Several Asian natricine snakes of the genus Rhabdophis feed on toads and sequester steroidal car-diac toxins known as bufadienolides(BDs)from them.A recent study revealed that species of the Rhabdophis nuchalis Group ingest lampyrine fireflies to sequester BDs.Although several species of fireflies are distributed in the habitat of the R.nuchalis Group,only lampyrine fireflies,which have BDs,are included in the diet of these snakes.Thus,we hypothesized that the R.nuchalis Group chemically distinguishes fireflies that have BDs from those that do not have BDs.We also predicted that the R.nuchalis Group detects BDs as the chemical cue of toxin source.To test these predictions,we conducted 3 behavioral experiments using Rhabdophis chiwen,which belongs to the R.nuchalis Group.In the first experiment,R.chiwen showed a moderate tongue flicking re-sponse to cinobufagin,a compound of BDs.On the other hand,the snake showed a higher re-sponse to the chemical stimuli of lampyrine fireflies(BD fireflies)than those of lucioline fireflies(non-BD fireflies).In the second experiment,in which we provided live BD and non-BD fireflies,the snake voluntarily consumed only the former.In the third,a Y-maze experiment,the snake tended to select the chemical trail of BD fireflies more frequently than that of non-BD fireflies.These results demonstrated that R.chiwen discriminates BD fireflies from non-BD fireflies,but the prediction that BDs are involved in this discrimination was not fully supported.To identify the proximate mechanisms of the recognition of novel toxic prey in the R.nuchalis Group,further investigation is necessary.

Bufadienolideschemical preferencefirefliesRhabdophistoxin sequestration

Masaya FuKUDA、Rinako UJIIE、Takato INOUE、Qin CHEN、Chengquan CAO、Li DING、Naoki MORI、Akira MORI

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Department of Zoology,Graduate School of Science,Kyoto University,Kyoto 606-8502,Japan

Department of Applied Life Science,Graduate School of Agriculture,Kyoto University,Kyoto 606-8502,Japan

Chengdu Institute of Biology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Chengdu,Sichuan 610041,China

College of Life Sciences,Leshan Normal University,Leshan,Sichuan 614000,China

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Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grantsin-Aid for Scientific ResearchJapan Society for the Promotion of Science Grantsin-Aid for Scientific ResearchJapan Society for the Promotion of Science Grantsin-Aid for Scientific Research

17H0371918KK020521H02551

2022

动物学报(英文版)
中国科学院动物研究所,中国动物学会

动物学报(英文版)

CSCDSCI
影响因子：0.198
ISSN：1674-5507
年,卷(期)：2022.68(6)
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