Sex differences in the foraging behavior of a generalist hawkmoth

Within-species variation in pollinator behavior is widely observed, but itscauses have been minimally investigated. Pollinator sex is associated with large differ-ences in behavior that may lead to predictable differences in flower foraging, but thisexpectation has not been explicitly tested. We investigate sex-associated differences innectar-foraging behavior of the hawkmothHyles lineata, using pollen on the proboscisas a proxy for flower visitation. We tested two predictions emerging from the literature:(1) the sexes differ in the flower species they visit, (2) females are more specialized inflower choice. We also examined potential drivers underlying these predictions by per-forming field and laboratory experiments to test whether males (3) switch among flowerspecies more frequently, or (4) fly farther and therefore encounter more species than fe-males. Consistent with prediction (1), pollen load composition differed between the sexes,indicative of visitation differences. Contrary to...

传粉者种内行为差异已被广泛观测，但针对其成因的研究仍较为匮乏。传粉者的性别与其行为存在显著关联，这种关联可能会导致访花觅食行为出现可预测的差异，但该推测尚未得到明确验证。本研究以白眉天蛾（Hyles lineata）为研究对象，以其喙部携带的花粉作为访花行为的替代指标，探究其性别关联的花蜜觅食行为差异。我们基于已有文献提出两项预测并开展验证：（1）雌雄个体的访花物种存在差异；（2）雌性个体的花选择更具专一性。此外，我们通过野外与室内实验探究上述预测背后的潜在驱动因素，分别检验：（3）雄性个体在花物种间的切换频率是否更高；（4）雄性个体飞行距离是否更远，因此相比雌性接触更多花物种。研究结果与预测（1）相符：雌雄个体的花粉负载组成存在显著差异，表明二者访花行为存在区别。而与