Structural and taxonomic components of habitat selection in the Neotropical folivore Lamponius portoricensis (Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae)

Lamponius portoricensis is a folivorous neotropical walkingstick that is a common light-gap inhabitant of the tabonuco forest in Puerto Rico. Density of walkingsticks was associated with patches that exhibit high apparency values for Piper treleaseanum and Symplocos martinicensis, and low apparency values for Dryopteris deltoidea. The total development of the understory regardless of taxonomic composition at 76 cm and 107 cm also contributes to high walkingstick density. L. portoricensis disproportionately occurs on P. treleaseanum (about twice as often as expected based on plant apparency). Despite these associations, only a third of the variation in walkingstick density is accounted for by this suite of floral characteristics. The low vagility of L. portoricensis may result in its having incomplete information about the abundance and distribution of forage plants, whereas patch-dynamic processes involving changes in quality of forage can confound the significance of apparency alone in predicting density. Production of aromatic attractants by Piper may act as the proximate cue affecting patch selection. -from Authors