吐鲁番沙虎的食物化学识别机制

Food chemical discrimination of the Turpan wonder gecko,Teratoscincus roborowskii

为探究吐鲁番沙虎(Teratoscincus roborowskii)对食物的化学识别能力,从而揭示吐鲁番沙虎摄食刺山柑(Capparis spinosa)果实的机制,采用棉签法研究吐鲁番沙虎对不同类型食物的反应,用弹舌速率(tongue-flick rate,TFR)和弹舌攻击得分(tongue-flick attack score,TFAS)作为响应指标。吐鲁番沙虎在不同食物刺激源和不同成熟程度的刺山柑之间表现出不同的TFR、TFAS。吐鲁番沙虎对乙醇刺激表现出最高的TFR;对成熟刺山柑果实的TFR显著高于腐败刺山柑果实和生刺山柑果实。吐鲁番沙虎对成熟刺山柑果实和香水的TFAS显著高于蒸馏水;成熟刺山柑果实和酒精的TFAS显著高于腐败刺山柑和蒸馏水。结果表明,吐鲁番沙虎具有猎物化学识别能力,验证了犁鼻器化学识别在吐鲁番沙虎定位刺山柑果实上发挥重要作用的假说,并支持部分坐等型捕食者也具有化学识别能力,可以通过弹舌去辨别周围的环境和猎物信息。

The cotton swab method was used to investigate the chemical identification mechanism of the Turpan wonder gecko（ Teratoscincus roborowskii） with different types of food. We examined the lingual responses of the Turpan wonder gecko to different food stimuli. Tongue-flick rate（ TFR） and tongue-flick attack score（ TFAS） were used as indices. The Turpan wonder gecko showed different TFR and TFAS in response to different food stimuli and to different ripeness levels of caper fruit. The gecko showed the highest TFR value in response to ethanol stimulation.When presented with ripe caper fruit,the TFR was significantly higher than that with decayed and unripe fruits. The gecko showed significantly higher TFAS in response to ripe caper fruit and cologne than to distilled water. The TFAS for ripe caper fruit and alcohol was significantly higher than that for decayed caper fruit and distilled water. Our results support the hypothesis that vomeronasal organ of Turpan wonder gecko may play an important role in locating caper fruit and discriminating its ripeness. It verifies that some sit-and-wait predators have the ability of chemical discriminating and can identify the surrounding environment and prey information by tongue-flick.