General Program for Determining Instar Distributions from Headcapsule Widths: Example Analysis of Mountain Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytide) Data
1998
Determining
instardistributions from field-collected insect samples is a common problem in
insect ecology. We describe a generalized computer program (HCAP) that determines an optimum separation rule based on the distribution of headcapsule widths. The program is initiated through visual interaction with the user to determine starting points for separation rules. HCAP then determines the optimum
instar
classification rules; estimates of means and standard deviations of headcapsule widths for each
instar; estimated number in each
instar; and probabilities of misclassification. Application of the program is illustrated by the analysis of 3 data sets of >10,000 observations of headcapsule widths obtained from field collections of larvae of the
mountain pine beetle,
Dendroctonusponderosae Hopkins. This analysis resulted in finding significant differences between larvae collected from different hosts (ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosae
Lawson, and lodgepole pine,
Pinus contortaDouglas variety latifolia Engelmann) and ecological circumstances (outbreak phase and geographic location). These results indicate that caution must be taken when extrapolating published results to new data or from one ecological situation to another.
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