Shelter-building behavior by caterpillars provides a mechanism of defense against predators, microenvironment enhancement, and in some cases nutritional benefits. This study provides a detailed description of the life cycle and shelter-building process of caterpillars, and identifies constraints and factors influencing this adaptive behavior in Lepidomys n. sp. near proclea Druce (Pyralidae: Ch...

The extraordinary diversity of tropical herbivores may be linked to hostplant specialization driven in part by variation in pressure from natural enemies. We quantified levels of host-specificity and parasitoid attack for the specialist herbivore, Eois (Geometridae). The goals of this research were to examine: 1) whether Eois are specialized on the genus Piper (Piperaceae) and if hostplant spec...

Small RNAs derived from ribosomal RNAs (srRNAs) are rarely explored in the high-throughput data of plant systems. Here, we analyzed srRNAs from the deep-sequenced small RNA libraries of Piper nigrum, a unique magnoliid plant. The 5' end of the putative long form of 5.8S rRNA (5.8SLrRNA) was identified as the site for biogenesis of highly abundant srRNAs that are unique among the Piperaceae fami...