8

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Cadiou 2000), although such cases occur, sometimes in combination with suspected aposematic coloration. Mimicry of ]arge Hymenoptera occurs in some day-active taxa. Some hawkmoths produce sound when disturbed, which might startle potential predators (e.g. in Acherontia sp.), while it could be related to yet unexplored mating behaviour in other cases (e.g. Psilogramma sp.). Night-activity of caterpillars and adults as well as flight speed and agility are probably also main predator escape strategies (Evans & Schmidt 1990). Furthermore, many species have strong tibial spurs which they use effectively for defence if captured. Parasitism and predation can be interacting with the structure of Lepidoptera communities (Stireman & Singer 2003, Barbosa & Caldas 2004, Scheirs & DeBruyn 2002, Lill et al. 2002, Gilbert & Smiley 1978), but too little is known about their respective effect an Southeast-Asian hawkmoth species to explicitly consider such effects in this study. Hawkmoths were chosen as focal study taxon in this project for a number of reasons: (1) They are a suitable `model group' for ecological investigations (e.g. Sutton & Collins 1991, Pearson 1994) due to the availability of a comparatively large amount of background i nformation (taxonomy, host plants, distribution; e.g. Kitching & Cadiou 2000, Pittaway & Kitching 2003, Pittaway 1997), which is matched for tropical invertebrates only by butterflies (e.g. Fiedler 1998). Although no complete phylogeny exists for the family, the taxonomy is relatively stable and reliable, a prerequisite for the compilation of multi-source data as well as for phylogenetic controls in comparative analyses (e.g. Harvey & Pagel 1991). This wealth of i nformation (particularly an distribution and food plants) is not the least because hawkmoths are, presumably due to their large body size, a favourite taxon for Lepidoptera enthusiasts and hobby collectors, and have been so for more than a century. Some common North American species (Manduca sp.) are also frequently used as `model species' in (eco-)physiological research (e.g. Kessler & Baldwin 2001), yet these results had only very limited impact an the topics that were studied here. (2) An investigation an hawkmoths makes a reasonable 'case study' as their general life history, with a folivorous caterpillar stage and a winged mating and dispersing stage, is probably typical of many other taxa of herbivorous insects, particularly of the Macrolepidoptera. Sphingidae are important pollinators (e.g. Haber & Frankie 1989, Kitching & Cadiou 2000) and some species have a potential to be agricultural pests (Moulds 1981, 1984, Kitching & Cadiou 2000 and references therein). Furthermore, caterpillars as weil as adults are even utilised for human nutrition in various regions (Kitching & Cadiou 2000 and references therein, I.J. Kitching pers. com, Chey V.K. pers. com ), all of which gives them some economic importance. (3) Most hawkmoth species are attracted to artificial light sources, which are an efficient method of assessing biodiversity, relative abundance and faunal inventories of nocturnal Lepidoptera (e.g. Muirhead-Thompson 1991). Other methods of quantitatively inventorying insect assemblages (e.g. net-catches along transects for dayactive butterflies) are probably more error-prone (i.e. biased towards conspicuous and slow species), and certainly much more work-intensive. (4) Hawkmoths are large and relatively species-poor even in Southeast-Asia if compared to mega-diverse groups such as the Lepidoptera families Geometridae (e.g. Scoble et al. 1995, Gaston et al. 1995) or Noctuidae. This makes them relatively easy to identify - an important factor in the study of tropical i nsects, where identification can make a significant proportion of the total workload (Basset et al. 2004, Brehm 2000) and species-level determination may sometimes not be possible (e.g. Wagner 1996, 1999, Oliver & Beattie 1994). On the other hand, local and regional species richness is high enough to attain sufficient sample sizes for comparative analyses. Most