Member list
Current members
- Lan-Wei Yeh
- Ecology and evolution of Taiwanese Carabus ground beetles.
- Chung-Hsin Huang
- Master topic: Flucuating Asymmetry and Developmental Asymmetry of Cyclommatus mniszechi; PhD topic: Evolution of Mandible Morphology and Fighting Behavior in Stag Beetles
- Ying-Yuan Lo
- Systematics, Behavior and Evolution of Lynx Spiders.
- Leocris Batucan Jr.
- New Species and DNA Barcoding of the Mayfly (Ephemeroptera) in Mt. Malindang, Mindanao, Philippines.
- Chun-Yu Lin
- Parasitoid Wasps of Damselflies; Phylogenetics and Evolution Histories of Treehoppers
- Hsu-Yi Lin
- Fighting Behavior of Odontolabis siva parryi Stag Beetles
- Sheng Lin
- Transcriptome Profiling Psolodesmus mandarinus mandarinus Damselfly
- Pei-Hsuan Chang
- Thermal Adaptation and Habitat Preference of Psolodesmus mandarinus Damselfly
- Min-Chen Lin
- Disruptive Camauflage of Colors of Pachyrhynchus Weevils.
- Masahiko Tanahashi
- Ecology and Evolution of Pachyrhynchus Weevils.
- Su-Ping Lin
- Symbiotic Yeasts of Stag Beetles
- Jun-Ying Wang
- Conservation of Mortonagrion hirosei Damselflies
- Chin-Han Hsiao
- Fighting Behavior of Rhaetulus crenatus Stag Beetles
- Wei-Zhe Tseng
- Systematics and Evolution of Weevils
- Cheng-Tse Yung
- Maternal Gift of Pachyrhynchus sarcitis Weevils
Past members
- Jo-Fan Wang
- Territorial behavior, trait evolution.
- Yu-Hsun Hsu
- Mating strategy, behavioural ecology, molecular ecology, population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, biostatistics.
- Yi-Shou Yang
- Reproductive Isolation of Psolodesmus mandarinus subspecies.
- Wataru Kojima
- Evolution of male sexual traits in Taiwanese scarab beetles.
- Zhen-Yi Chen
- Fighting behavior and reproductive strategy of stag beetles.
- Teng-Yu Liu
- Fighting behaviour and life history observation of a stag beetle Rhaetulus crenatus crenatus.
- Princess Angelie S. Casas
- Insect Diversity and Evolution
- Lu-Yi Wang
- Defense Mechanism of Pachyrhynchus weevils.
- Hui-Yun Tseng
- Yu-Jen Yu
- Variation and Adaptation of wings.
- Yen-Ting Chen
- Systematics and evolution of insects.
- Yun-Chieh Cheng
- Damselfly larval diet, molecular evolution.
- Tai-Chia Chiang
- The effect of aposematic colors of Pachyrhynchus weevils on avian predators.
- Yong-Chao Su
- Behavioral ecology, sociobiology, population genetics, and molecular phylogenetics.
- I-Ting Hsiao
- Variation of genitalia in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Jyun-Huei Huang
- The fighting behavior of a stag beetle, Rhaetulus crenatus.
- Shi-Ting Wu
- Membracis Phyllotropis.
- Chiao-Wei Lin
- The fighting behavior of a stag beetle, Rhaetulus crenatus.
- Wei-Liang Xiao
- Variation of wing veins in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Hung-Nien Chen
- 1. The effect of typhoon on survivalship of Matrona cyanoptera. 2. Modes of phenotypic variation in Euphaea amphicyana.
- Chu-Yen Cheng
- Phylogeography of a Philippine's treehopper, Leptocentrus reponens.
- Che-Yu Kuan
- Variation of mandibles in stag beetles.
- Yat-Hung Lee
- Speciation of Euphaea damselflies.
- Ming-Yu Chen
- Phylogeography and population history of the treehoppers, Centrochares horifficus from the Philippines Archipelago.
- Shao-Chang Huang
- Visual Communication of Matrona cyanoptera
- Jen-Pan Huang
- Population Genetics and Phylogeographic Analyses of Formosan Damselfly, Euphaea Formosa (Insecta: Odonata: Euphaeidae) from Taiwan
- Wei-Yun Chen
- Molecular and Phylogenetic Characterization of Endosymbiotic Bacteria of the Froghopper, Okiscarta uchidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cercopidae)
Visiting scholars and students
- Jillian del Sol
- Behavioral Ecology; Mating System Ecology; Weapon Ecology and Evolution; Evolutionary Biology
- Ian Dela Cruz
- New Species and DNA Barcoding of the Stonefly (Plecoptera) in Mt. Malindang, Mindanao, Philippines.
- Shinya Komata
- Ecology & Evolution of Wing Polymorphism in a Mimetic Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio memnon.
- Vanitha Williams
- Predatory potential of waterbug, Diplonychus rusticus and dragonfly, Diplacodes trivialis on mosquito larvae.
- Marina Vilenica
- Dragonfly composition (Insecta, Odonata) in wetland area of Turopolje region, Croatia
- Klaas-Douwe 'KD' B. Dijkstra
- History, diversity and identification of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata).
- Erin McCullough
- " Diversification of weapon form: aerodynamic costs of beetle horns.
- Ashley E. King
- Intrasexual combat and intersexual antagonistic co-evolution in horned beetles.
Hui-Yun Tseng
Title
PhD Student 2011-2017
Species: Pachyrhynchus spp.
Project
Aposematic coloration, island biogeography.
Abstrct
E-mail：hytseng1216@gmail.com
The flightless pachyrhynchid weevils are members of the largest beetle family Curculionidae. Most pachyrhynchid weevils are decorated with colorful and iridescent markings on their bodies, which are extremely rigid with fused elytra. Distributed mainly from the tropical Philippine archipelago north to the Ryukyu islands, these insects represent an astonishingly high level of morphological and species diversity on these oceanic islands. In this study, we focus on three questions in pachyrhynchids: 1. Biological function of colorful markings: the brilliant coloration of pachyrhynchids may function as crypsis, aposematic or mating signals, and we will test these hypotheses using behavioral experiments in the laboratory and field. 2. Phylogeny and color evolution of Pachyrhynchus weevils: using mitochondrial and nuclear genes, we can infer the phylogenetic relationships between taxa differing in color, and reconstruct the evolutionary history of coloration. 3. Degree and direction of gene flow between weevil populations on Lanyu and Green Island: genetic divergence and homogeneity depend on the strength of gene flow among different populations. Many factors may affect the population dispersal and therefore mediate the direction of gene flow. We will analyze the degree and direction of gene flow between pachyrrhynchid populations in Lanyu and Green Island, and test whether the direction is consistent with the flow of Kuroshio currents.
Topic 1
Colours of Pachyrhynchus weevils function as aposematic visual cues for Swinhoe’s tree lizard (Japalura swinhonis)
Abstract
Aposematic coloration or warning signals of preys can be used to advertise their un-palatability, therefore deter potential predators. Pachyrhynchus weevils are a group of insects often decorated with colorful and iridescent markings. Because of their extremely rigid elytra and a remarkable similarity between these weevils and other insects (e.g. longhorn beetles and crickets), these colors were considered as aposematic signals. However, there was no scientific evidence supporting this hypothesis. In this study, we used Swinhoe’s tree lizard (Japalura swinhonis) as a predator and two weevil species, P. tobafolius and Kashotonus multipuctatus as prey to examine two hypotheses: 1) the conspicuous coloration function as aposematic signals, and 2) the lizards sympatric with the weevils avoid these prey, whereas allopatric and naïve lizards attack these presumably unpalatable prey. In the first experiment, both P. tobafolius and K. multipuctatus with intact or artificially removed colors were used to test whether sympatric lizards have different predation attempts. The results showed that sympatric lizards attack more frequently on both weevil species without markings than that with markings. In the second experiment, we used sympatric and allopatric lizards to test whether these lizards recognize these weevils as unpalatable prey. The results showed an existence of geographical variation in predation response among lizard populations, where allopatric lizards made significantly more predatory attempts on the weevils than that of sympatric lizards. These findings suggest that the coloration of Pachyrrhynchus weevil functions as an aposematic signal for sympatric Swinhoe’s tree lizard populations.
Ananjeva, N. B., E. E. Golynsky, S.-M. Lin, N. L. Orlov, Hui-Yun Tseng. 2015. Modeling habitat suitability to predict the potential distribution of the Kelung Cat Snake Boiga kraepelini Steineger, 1902. Russian Journal of herpetology 22(3):197-206. PDF
Lin, W.-L., S.-M. Lin, J.-W. Lin, Y. Wang, Hui-Yun Tseng. 2015. Breeding performance of Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus in urban and rural environments of Taiwan. Bird Study 62(2): 177-184. PDF
Lin, W.-L., S.-M. Lin, Hui-Yun Tseng. 2014. Colour morphs in the Collared Pygmy Owl Glaucidium brodiei are age-related, not a polymorphism. Ardea 102: 95–99. PDF
Tseng, H-Y., C-P. Lin, J-Y Hsu, D.A. Pike and W-S. Huang. 2014. The functional significance of aposematic signals: geographic variation in the responses of widespread lizard predators to colourful invertebrate prey. PLoS ONE 9(3):e91777. PDF
曾惠芸、林仲平、許嫆雅、黃文山. 2014. 島嶼上的瑰麗珠寶球背象鼻蟲. 科學人雜誌, 201408, p2-4. PDF
Lin, W.-L., L. L. Severinghaus, Hui-Yun Tseng, S.-M. Lin. 2013. Genetic differentiation between migratory and sedentary populations of the Northern Boobook (Ninox japonica), with the discovery of a novel cryptic sedentary lineage. Journal of Ornithology 154: 987-994. PDF
Lin, W.-L., S.-M. Lin, Hui-Yun Tseng. 2012. Breeding ecology of the Northern Boobook Ninox japonica totogo in central Taiwan. Forktail 28: 164-166. PDF
Tseng, Hui-Yun, W.-S. Huang. 2012. Sphenomorphus incognitus (Brown Forest Skink). Parental care. Herpetological Review 43(1): 141. PDF
Lin, W.-L., Y. Wang, Hui-Yun Tseng. 2007. Initial investigation on the diet of Eastern Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris) in southern Taiwan. Taiwania 52(1): 100-105. PDF