Monophagy (from other Greek. Μόνος - one + φαγεῖν - eat, devour) is an extreme degree of specialization of nutrition in animals due to only one single type of food, a type of stenophagy . Omnivore is opposed.
Monophagy is observed mainly in groups with a large number of species, especially in insects , individual species of worms, crustaceans, and mollusks . It is extremely rare in vertebrates. It is more common among herbivorous species: for example, the small form of the weevil Calandra granaria feeds only on wheat grains, and the large one feeds on corn , the caterpillars of butterflies of the genus Parnassius feed exclusively on plants of the genus Sedum (stonecrop).
Monophagy is also characteristic of phylloxera and other aphids .
It also occurs among animal parasites - for example, the nematode Cystoopsis acipenseris parasitizes exclusively in sterlet , and the fluke Anchylodiscus siluri only in catfish . This type of food specialization is also characteristic of a number of isopods, as well as blood-sucking parasites - ticks , fleas .
Among vertebrates, it is observed in some phytophages, for example, the palm vulture ( Gypohierax apgolensis ) eats only the fruits of oil palm , many species of hummingbirds feed on the nectar of flowers of only certain plant species. The large panda eats exclusively young shoots of several species of bamboo .
Monophagous animals in most cases are either active in the search for their preferred food, or, conversely, are extremely passive and feed on low-value, but easily accessible food.
Literature
- Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary / chapters. ed. MS Gilyarov. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1986. - S. 376.