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oligophagy
EntityQ722531· pop 15· linked from 26 articles

oligophagy

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Also known as oligophage, oligophagous

thumb|right|The Colorado potato beetle will typically only feed on plants of the family [[Solanaceae.]] Oligophagy refers to the eating of only a few specific foods, and to monophagy when restricted to a single food source. The term is usually associated with insect dietary behaviour. Organisms may exhibit narrow or specific oligophagy where the diet is restricted to a very few foods or broad oligophagy where the organism feeds on a wide variety of specific foods but none other.

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thumb|right|The Colorado potato beetle will typically only feed on plants of the family [[Solanaceae.]] Oligophagy refers to the eating of only a few specific foods, and to monophagy when restricted to a single food source. The term is usually associated with insect dietary behaviour. Organisms may exhibit narrow or specific oligophagy where the diet is restricted to a very few foods or broad oligophagy where the organism feeds on a wide variety of specific foods but none other.

Polyphagy, on the contrary, refers to eating a broad spectrum of foods. In the insect world it refers usually to insects that feed on plants belonging to different families.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “oligophagy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.