Thermal preference and performance in a sub-Antarctic caterpillar: A test of the coadaptation hypothesis and its alternatives

[Display omitted] •Pringleophaga marioni larvae move optimally between 20 and 25°C.•Larvae Tpref is significantly lower between 4 and 5°C.•Larvae survive better at lower temperatures of 5°C compared to 10 or 15°C.•We conclude that preference is rather aligned to a trait directly affecting fitness. Physiological ecologists have long assumed that thermoregulatory behaviour will evolve to optimise physiological performance. The coadaptation hypothesis predicts that an animal’s preferred body temperature will correspond to the temperature at which its performance is optimal. Here we use a strong inference approach to examine the relationship between thermal preference and locomotor performance in the caterpillars of a wingless sub-Antarctic moth, Pringleophaga marioni Viette (Tineidae). The coadaptation hypothesis and its alternatives (suboptimal is optimal, thermodynamic effect, trait variation) are tested. Compared to the optimal movement temperature (22.5°C for field-fresh caterpillars and 25, 20, 22.5, 25 and 20°C following seven day acclimations to 0, 5, 10, 15 and 5–15°C respectively), caterpillar thermal preference was significantly lower (9.2°C for field-fresh individuals and 9.4, 8.8, 8.1, 5.2 and 4.6°C following acclimation to 0, 5, 10, 15 and 5–15°C, respectively). Together with the low degree of asymmetry observed in the performance curves, and the finding that acclimation to high temperatures did not result in maximal performance, all, but one of the above hypotheses (i.e. ‘trait variation’) was rejected. The thermal preference of P. marioni caterpillars more closely resembles temperatures at which survival is high (5–10°C), or where feeding is optimal (10°C), than where locomotion speed is maximal, suggesting that thermal preference may be optimised for overall fitness rather than for a given trait.