Allometry of water vapor absorption in two species of tenebrionid beetle larvae.

Water vapor absorption is compared in the two tenebrionid larvae Tenebrio molitor and Onymacris marginipennis. Thresholds for absorption and "absorption capacity," which depend on ion transport by Malpighian tubules, are consistently different over the entire size range of the two species. Because of lower thresholds, uptake rates of Onymacris are over double those of Tenebrio in larvae of the same size at identical ambient water activities. By contrast, passive determinants of uptake, rectal conductance, and morphometry are similarly scaled with size in the two species. A ventilatory mechanism of vapor entry into the rectum is proposed for both species, since the anal canal is too long and narrow for exclusively diffusional entry. Vapor uptake in relation to larval mass was described by a simple diffusion model through rectal tissue, where flux varied directly with surface area and inversely with the distance between the lumen and Malpighian tubules. Failure of rectal conductance to increase proportionally with body mass means that size-specific vapor uptake declines with larval size in both species.