The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Self-medication in insects: current evidence and future perspectives

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

1. Self-medication is an ability to consume or otherwise contact biologically active organic compounds specifically for the purpose of helping to clear a (parasitic) infection or reduce its symptoms. Consumption of these compounds may either take place before the infection is contracted (prophylactic consumption) or after the infection is contracted (therapeutic consumption). 2. An important insight is that self-medication is a form of adaptive plasticity, and as such, consumption of the medicinal substance when uninfected must impose a fitness cost (otherwise the substance would be universally consumed). This distinguishes self-medication from several closely related phenomena such as microbiome effects or compensatory diet choice. 3. A number of recent studies have convincingly demonstrated self-medication within several different, distantly-related, insect taxa. Here I review evidence of self-medication in the wooly bear caterpillar Grammia incorrupta Edwards, the armyworm Spodoptera Guenee, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus Kluk, and the honey bee Apis mellifera Linnaeus. 4. These studies show not only that self-medication is possible, but that the target of the medication behaviour may in some cases be kin rather than self. They also reveal very few general patterns. I therefore end by discussing future prospects within the field of insect self-medication.

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Pages

273-280

Publication/Series

Ecological Entomology

Volume

39

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • Apis
  • Danaus
  • Drosophila
  • Grammia
  • pharmacophagy
  • social immunity
  • zoopharmacognosy

Status

Published

Research group

  • Genetics of Sex Differences

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1365-2311