Insects - Timing is everything. Temporal and spatial niche segregation in Curculio spp. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) associated with oak trees

The general characteristics of acorn selection by Curculio spp. females are shown in Table 1. Generally, females of C. venosus were rarely interested in drilling into the heaviest acorns. Their eggs were found in the smallest fruits, with weight <1 g (median 0.741 g). Females of C. pellitus preferred bigger acorns, usually with weight around 1.5 g (median 1.519 g), sometimes choosing the biggest ones. Curculio glandium females, in turn, drilled in all kinds of acorns, but laid eggs only into the biggest ones, with mass over 2.5 g (median 2.852 g). Kruskal–Wallis’ test revealed a significant (post-hoc, p<0.05) difference in the selection of acorns in terms of weight by females of the three species. Dunn's post-hoc test showed that the lightest acorns were selected significantly more often by female C. venosus (post-hoc, p<0.05) than by females of the other species. Curculio glandium females selected the acorns of the significantly largest masses (post-hoc, p<0.05).