Editing Insectivore

{{short description|Organism which eats insects}}
{{for|the now-abandoned mammal taxon|Insectivora}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

[[File:Aardwolfskull.jpg|thumb|This [[aardwolf]] skull exhibits greatly reduced [[Molar (tooth)|molars]] and [[carnassial]]s teeth as they are unnecessary for any large, insectivorous animal subsisting on soft insects such as [[termite]]s. The [[dentition]] of a [[shrew]] is very different. The aardwolf uses its [[canine teeth]] in self-defence; accordingly, they have not been greatly reduced.]]
[[file:Common brown robberfly with prey.jpg|thumb|A [[Asilidae|robber fly]] eating a [[hoverfly]]]]
[[File:Myresluger2.jpg|thumb|The [[giant anteater]], a large insectivorous mammal]]

An '''insectivore''' is a [[carnivore|carnivorous]] animal or plant which eats  [[insect]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=insectivorous |title=Article for ''insectivorous'' |author=Miller, George A. |year=2009 |website=WordNet |publisher=Princeton University |access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> An alternative term is '''entomophage''',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gullan |first1=P.J. |last2=Cranston |first2=P.S. |title = The Insects: An outline of entomology |year=2005 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |place=[[Malden, Massachusetts|Malden, MA]] |isbn=978-1-4051-1113-3 |page=455 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781405111133/page/455}}</ref> which can also refer to the [[Entomophagy in humans|human practice of eating insects]].

The first vertebrate insectivores were [[amphibian]]s. When they [[evolved]] 400&nbsp;million years ago, the first amphibians were [[piscivores]], with numerous sharp conical teeth, much like a modern [[crocodile]]. The same tooth arrangement is however also suited for eating animals with [[exoskeleton]]s, thus the ability to eat insects can stem from piscivory.<ref name="SahneyBentonFerry2010RainforestCollapse">{{cite journal |author1=Sahney, S. |author2=Benton, M.J. |author3=Falcon-Lang, H.J. |year=2010 |title=Rainforest collapse triggered Pennsylvanian tetrapod diversification in Euramerica |journal=Geology |volume=38 |issue=12 |pages=1079–1082 |doi=10.1130/G31182.1 |bibcode=2010Geo....38.1079S |url=http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/38/12/1079 |format=PDF|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

At one time, insectivorous [[mammal]]s were [[scientific classification|scientifically classified]] in an [[order (biology)|order]] called [[Insectivora]]. This order is now abandoned, as not all insectivorous mammals are closely related. Most of the Insectivora [[taxa]] have been reclassified; those that have not yet been reclassified and found to be truly related to each other remain in the order [[Eulipotyphla]].

Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers. Insects make up a very large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine, non-polar environments. It has been estimated that the global insect biomass is in the region of 10<sup>12</sup>&nbsp;kg (one [[billion]] tons) with an estimated [[population]] of 10<sup>18</sup> (one billion billion, or [[quintillion]]) organisms.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Biomechanics of Insect Flight: Form, function, evolution |last=Dudley |first=Robert |year=2002 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |chapter=Flight and the Pterygote Insecta |pages=3–35 |isbn=978-0-691-09491-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTIMhD9BF1kC&pg=PA13}}</ref>{{rp|page=13}} Many creatures depend on insects for their primary diet, and many that do not (and are thus not technically insectivores) nevertheless use insects as a [[protein]] supplement, particularly when they are breeding.<ref name="cascades">{{cite book |title=Field Guide to the Cascades & Olympics| year=2004 |publisher=The Mountaineers Books |isbn=978-0-89886-808-1 |pages=317 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YQsJTwkD2AC |access-date=2010-04-01 |author1=Whitney, Stephen R. |author2=Sandelin, R.}}</ref>

==Examples==
Examples of insectivores include different kinds of species of [[carp]], [[opossum]], [[frog]]s, [[lizard]]s (e.g. [[chameleon]]s, [[gecko]]s), [[nightingale]]s, [[hirundinidae|swallows]], [[echidna]]s,<ref name=echidnainfo>{{cite web |url=http://www.animalinfo.org/species/zaglbrui.htm |title="Long-beaked Echidna (Zaglossus bruijni)" (entry) |website=animalinfo.org |publisher=West of Scotland & Ayr Group |access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> [[numbat]]s, [[anteater]]s, [[armadillo]]s, [[aardvark]]s, [[pangolin]]s, [[aardwolf]]s,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hyaenidae.org/the-hyaenidae/aardwolf-proteles-cristatus.html |title=Aardwolf (''Proteles cristata'') |author=Holekamp, Kay E. |publisher=www.animalinfo.org |access-date=1 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417192844/http://www.hyaenidae.org/the-hyaenidae/aardwolf-proteles-cristatus.html |archive-date=17 April 2010}}</ref> [[bat]]s, and [[spider]]s. Even large mammals are recorded as eating insects;<ref name="cascades"/> the [[sloth bear]] is perhaps the largest insectivore. Insects also can be insectivores; examples are [[dragonfly|dragonflies]], [[hornet]]s, [[ladybug]]s, [[Asilidae|robber flies]], and [[praying mantis]]es.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Economic Importance of Insects |author=Hill, Dennis S. |year=1997 |publisher=Springer |page=198 |isbn=978-0-412-49800-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKQIAqMyBJgC |access-date=2010-04-01 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{rp|page=31}} Insectivory also features to various degrees amongst [[primates]], such as [[marmoset]]s, [[tamarin]]s, [[tarsiers]], [[galagos]] and [[aye-aye]].<ref name="JonesMartinPilbeam">{{cite book |title=The Primate Order |last=Stetoff |first=Rebecca |year=2006 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |page=92 |isbn=978-0-7614-1816-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akbsqE8-ar4C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution |editor1=Jones, S. |editor2=Martin, R. |editor3=Pilbeam, D. |year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-32370-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00step}}</ref>{{rp|pages=56–57}} There is some suggestion that the earliest primates were [[nocturnal]], [[arboreal]] insectivores.<ref name="Weiss&Mann">{{cite book |author1=Weiss, M.L. |author2=Mann, A.E. |year=1985 |title=Human Biology and Behaviour: An anthropological perspective |publisher=Little Brown & Co. |place=Boston, MA |isbn=0-673-39013-6}}</ref>

==Insectivorous plants==
{{main|Insectivorous plants}}
[[File:Drosera à feuilles ovales (Drosera x obovata) dans les Hautes-Vosges - Cliché Vosagus 28-06-2009.JPG|alt=|thumb|''[[Drosera capensis|Drosera species]]'' ]]
[[Carnivorous plant|Insectivorous plants]] are plants that derive some of their [[nutrient]]s from trapping and consuming animals or [[protozoan]]. The benefit they derive from their catch varies considerably; in some species, it might include a small part of their nutrient intake and in others it might be an indispensable source of nutrients. As a rule, however, such animal food, however valuable it might be as a source of certain critically important minerals, is not the plants' major source of [[energy]], which they generally derive mainly from photosynthesis.<ref name="Slack & Gate">{{cite book |last1=Slack |first1=Adrian |last2=Gate |first2=Jane |year=2000 |title=Carnivorous Plants |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-69089-8}}</ref>{{rp|page=14}}

Insectivorous plants might consume insects and other animal material trapped adventitiously. However, most species to which such food represents an important part of their intake are specifically, often spectacularly, adapted to attract and secure adequate supplies. Their prey animals typically, but not exclusively, comprise [[insect]]s and other [[arthropod]]s.  Plants highly adapted to reliance on animal food use a variety of mechanisms to secure their prey, such as pitfalls, sticky surfaces, hair-trigger snaps, bladder-traps, entangling furriness, and lobster-pot trap mechanisms.<ref name="Slack & Gate"/>{{rp|page=14–17}} Also known as ''carnivorous plants'', they appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially [[nitrogen]], such as acidic [[bog]]s and rock outcroppings.<ref name="Slack & Gate"/>{{rp|page=13}}

Insectivorous plants include the [[Venus flytrap]], several types of [[pitcher plant]]s, [[butterwort]]s, [[sundew]]s, [[bladderwort]]s, the [[waterwheel plant]], [[brocchinia]] and many members of the [[Bromeliaceae]]. The list is far from complete, and some plants, such as [[Roridula]] species, exploit the prey organisms mainly in a mutualistic relationship with other creatures, such as resident organisms that contribute to the digestion of prey. In particular, animal prey organisms supply carnivorous plants with nitrogen, but they also are important sources of various other soluble minerals, such as potassium and trace elements that are in short supply in environments where the plants flourish. This gives them a decisive advantage over other plants, whereas in nutrient-rich soils they tend to be out-competed by plants adapted to aggressive growth where nutrient supplies are not the major constraints.

Technically these plants are not strictly insectivorous, as they consume any animal that they can secure and consume; the distinction is trivial, however, because not many primarily insectivorous organisms exclusively consume insects. Most of those that do have such a restrictive diet, such as certain [[parasitoid]]s and [[hunting wasp]]s, are specialized to exploit particular species, not insects in general. Indeed, much as large mantids and spiders will do, the larger varieties of pitcher plants have been known to consume [[vertebrate]]s such as small rodents and lizards.<ref name="Slack & Gate"/>{{rp|page=13}} [[Charles Darwin]] wrote the [[Insectivorous Plants (book)|first well-known treatise on carnivorous plants]] in 1875.<ref name="darwin1875">{{cite book |author=Darwin, C. |author-link=Charles Darwin |title=Insectivorous Plants |publisher=John Murray |place=London, UK |year=1875 |url=http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin3/insectivorous/insect01.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923021622/http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin3/insectivorous/insect01.htm | archive-date=2006-09-23 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Entomophagy]]
* [[Consumer-resource systems]]
* [[Insectivora]]
* [[List of feeding behaviours]]
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

{{feeding}}

[[Category:Carnivory]]
[[Category:Animals by eating behaviors]]
[[Category:Insect ecology]]