Resource Partitioning among Three Willow Leaf Miners : Consequence of Host Plant Phenology

Host use pattern of three lepidopteran leaf miners was studied on the host plant, Salix miyabeana. Interspecific co-occurrence, on a single leaf was exceptional, and the three leaf miner species used leaves in different size. There was a positive correlation between leaf size and leaf area required for larval development of each species. This host use pattern depending on leaf size is probably due to leaf-flushing pattern of the host plant. Since S. miyabeana produced temporal variation in leaf size throughout the growing season, size of leaves available to the leaf miners varied temporally depending on different ovipositing timing of the leaf miners. Thus, it is concluded that different timing of oviposition results in resource partitioning among the leaf miners.