{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T04:12:49Z","timestamp":1790482369408,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,1]],"date-time":"2017-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1483228800000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/www.biologists.com\/user-licence-1-1\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004663","name":"Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["103-2311-B-029-001-MY3, 104-2621-B-003-002-MY3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["103-2311-B-029-001-MY3, 104-2621-B-003-002-MY3"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Anti-predator strategies are significant components of adaptation in prey species. Aposematic prey are expected to possess effective defences that have evolved simultaneously with their warning colours. This study tested the hypothesis of the defensive function and ecological significance of the hard body in aposematic Pachyrhynchus weevils pioneered by Alfred Russel Wallace nearly 150 years ago. We used predation trials with Japalura tree lizards to assess the survivorship of \u2018hard\u2019 (mature) vs. \u2018soft\u2019 (teneral) and \u2018clawed\u2019 (intact) vs. \u2018clawless\u2019 (surgically removed) weevils. The ecological significance of the weevil's hard body was evaluated by assessing the hardness of the weevils, the local prey insects, and the bite forces of the lizard populations. The existence of toxins or deterrents in the weevil was examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). All \u2018hard\u2019 weevils were instantly spat out after being bitten once and survived attacks by the lizards. In contrast, the \u2018soft\u2019 weevils were chewed and subsequently swallowed. The results were the same regardless of the presence or absence of the weevil's tarsal claws. The hardness of \u2018hard\u2019 Pachyrhynchus weevils was significantly higher than the average hardness of other prey insects in the same habitat and the mean bite forces of the local lizards. The four candidate compounds of the weevil identified by GC-MS had no known toxic or repellent functions against vertebrates. These results reveal that the hardness of aposematic prey functions as an effective secondary defence, and they provide a framework for understanding the spatio-temporal interactions between vertebrate predators and aposematic insect prey.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.172486","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,26]],"date-time":"2018-01-26T01:20:13Z","timestamp":1516929613000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Too hard to swallow: A secret secondary defence of an aposematic insect"],"prefix":"10.1242","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6980-3782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu-Yi","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0073-3557","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wen-San","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5454-2284","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hsin-Chieh","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Taipei Zoo, Taipei, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3277-6893","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lung-Chun","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Taipei Zoo, Taipei, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1472-5080","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chung-Ping","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan"},{"name":"Laboratory of Forest Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"237","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2021042422445288000_JEB172486C1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.ecolsys.31.1.79","article-title":"The evolution of predator-prey interactions: theory and evidence","volume":"31","author":"Abrams","year":"2000","journal-title":"Annu. 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