OVIPOSITIONAL HOST PLANT PREFERENCE OF SEPIA-OFFICINALIS

The present study was undertaken to verify ancient data in theliterature on ovipositional preference of the cuttlefish Sepiaofficinalis for the terrestrial plant Pistacia lentiscus (mastic tree).- Adult specimens of Sepia were placed in basins together with aerialparts not only of P. lentiscus, but also of Artemisia arborescens,Centaurea alba var. deusta, Quercus ilex and Laurus nobilis. The eggmasses deposited on the plants quantified on a daily basis during the 16day observation period. By far the largest amounts of eggs were foundattached to the stems and petioles of P. lentiscus (51.8%), but Q. ilexand A. arborescens also scored high as ovipositional host plants (23.1and 20.2% respectively). L. nobilis and C. alba var. deusta ranked verylow (3.6 and 1.3% respectively). Considering the extremely divergentshape of the three preferred oviposition substrates, which excludesaffinity for a uniform type of plant, the possibility of chemicalattraction cannot be ruled out.