Sharing the same basic body shape, their weight ranged from 0.055 to 5.2 g (Table 3). Basal energy turnover diminished with increasing body mass also in locusts (Harrison et al., 2010) and in honeybee larvae (Petz et al., 2004). Niven and Scharlemann (2005) came to similar findings comparing resting metabolism of many flying insects. If also non-flying PDGFR inhibitor arthropod species are included, the decrease of mass specific resting metabolism

with body mass is smaller (Fig. 8). Nonetheless there is an enormous variation in (resting) metabolism measurements of even closely related taxa of arthropods (compare Fig. 7 and Fig. 8). There are several hypotheses concerning this variation. The evolutionary trade-off hypothesis tries to explain the relationship between resting metabolic rate and ambient temperature, and the cause of variation on all taxonomic levels (order, family, inter- as well as intra-species; e.g. Clarke, 2006 and Riveros and Enquist, 2011). The aerobic capacity hypothesis (developed for mammals by Hayes and Garland, 1995) states that the higher the maximal metabolic rates that can

be achieved by animals the higher the resting metabolism. Transferring this hypothesis to insects with a similar energetic capacity than mammals, species with a highly energetic life-style (see Riveros and Enquist, 2011) like yellowjackets and selleck chemicals llc honeybees should have a higher mass-specific resting metabolism than insects with a more settled way of life like Eupsilia

sp. ( Heinrich, 1987) and P. dominulus ( Kovac et al., 2009 and Weiner et al., 2009). Our findings support this hypothesis (see Fig. 7 and Fig. 8). Another explanation for differences in Pregnenolone resting metabolism is provided by the life-style hypothesis (Reinhold, 1999 and Riveros and Enquist, 2011). If one compares the tachinid fly Nowickia sp. ( Chappell and Morgan, 1987) and the winter flying cuculinid moth Eupsilia sp. ( Heinrich, 1987 and Heinrich and Mommsen, 1985) which weigh 0.130 g and 0.155 g, respectively, they differ highly in resting metabolism – and also in way of life ( Table 2; Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, No. 10 Nowickia sp. and No. 11 Eupsilia sp.). The fly with the higher metabolism lives “on the wing” whereas the moth is rather inactive and sits still most of the day. However, Terblanche and Anderson (2010) showed that the resting metabolic rate in the hawkmoth Macroglossum trochilus and the long-proboscid fly Moegistorhynchus longirostrus differs despite a similar size and life-style (in this case foraging behavior).