Rose chafer beetles(Protetia cuprea)are pollinators as well as agricultural pests,flying between flowers and trees while foraging for pollen and fruits.Calculating the energy they expend on flying during foraging activity faces the challenge of measur-ing the metabolic rate(MR)of free-flying insects in an open space.We overcame this challenge by using the bolus injection of 13C Na-bicarbonate technique to measure their metabolic energy expenditure while flying in a large flight arena.Concurrently,we tracked the insects with high-speed cameras to extract their flight trajectory,from which we cal-culated the mechanical power invested in flying for each flight bout.We found that the chemical(metabolic)energy input converted to mechanical flight energy output at a mean efficiency of 10.4％±5.2％,with a trend of increased efficiency in larger conspecifics(efficiency scaled with body mass to the power of 1.4).The transition in the summer from a diet of pollen to that of fruits may affect the energy budget available for foraging.Starved P cuprea,feeding on apples ad libitum,increased their body mass by an average of 6％in 2 h.According to our calculations,such a meal can power a 630-m flight(assuming a carbohydrate assimilation efficiency of 90％).Pollen,with a low water and carbohydrate content but rich in proteins and lipids,has a higher caloric content and should assimilate differently when converting food to flight fuel.The high cost of aerial locomotion is in-herent to the foraging behavior of rose chafers,explaining their short flight bouts followed by prolonged feeding activity.

Tomer Urca;Eran Levin;Gal Ribak

School of Zoology,Faculty of Life Sciences,Tel Aviv University,Tel Aviv,Israel;Steinhardt Museum of Natural History,Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies,Tel Aviv,Israel

中国昆虫科学（英文版）

[1]Tomer Urca;Eran Levin;Gal Ribak-.Metabolic cost of flight and aerobic efficiency in the rose chafer,Protaetia cuprea(Cetoniinae))[J].中国昆虫科学（英文版）,2022(05):1361-1372

chafer,cuprea,Cetoniinae,Protetia,expend,conspecifics,Starved,Pollen,chafers

Metabolic,cost,flight,aerobic,efficiency,rose,Protaetia,Rose,beetles,pollinators,well,agricultural,pests,flying,between,flowers,trees,while,foraging,pollen,fruits,Calculating,energy,they,during,activity,faces,challenge,metabolic,MR,free,insects,open,space,We,overcame,this,by,using,bolus,injection,13C,Na,bicarbonate,technique,measure,their,expenditure,arena,Concurrently,tracked,speed,cameras,extract,trajectory,from,which,culated,mechanical,power,invested,each,found,that,chemical,input,converted,output,mean,trend,increased,larger,scaled,body,mass,transition,summer,diet,may,affect,budget,available,feeding,apples,ad,libitum,average,According,our,calculations,such,meal,can,assuming,carbohydrate,assimilation,water,content,but,rich,proteins,lipids,has,higher,caloric,should,assimilate,differently,when,converting,food,fuel,aerial,locomotion,herent,behavior,explaining,short,bouts,followed,prolonged

0.536004