P. pruinosus + Black Locust "Taste Test"

My ultimate goal is to harvest Maple, Oak, and Ash on my property this fall, but I'm concerned about cross-contamination due to a surplus of neighboring Black Locust trees, which are poisonous (although not necessarily to isopods). Common advice suggests offering hardwood leaves and avoiding plants with chemical defenses. I have not found evidence of Black Locust leaves being offered to isopods in the hobby, either in my search of social media groups or in shops offering botanicals. So it's experiment time. I'll post my "research," thoughts, and testing here. (If safe, the leaves are nutritious and have a high protein content (13-20%), comparable to Kudzu, which is worth considering. Will they even like it? First things first.) Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a hardwood tree in the legume family native to North America and introduced/naturalized/invasive globally. It's bark, seeds, and leaves contain toxalbumins (robinin, robin, phasin). It is toxic when eaten by humans, though poisoning is extremely rare, with only one reported case in the US the last 100 years as of a case study in 2004 (1). Parts of the tree are used in the traditional medicine culture of several Indigenous American peoples. (2) Skin contact will not cause systemic poisoning and dermatitis reactions are not typical (wash your hands, though). Puncture wounds from the thorns can be exacerbated by the plant's toxins. Black Locust is especially lethal to horses and of questionable safety for cattle and chickens, but it has been used as livestock feed in East Asia and is also used in modern silvopasture systems where ruminants can graze on the leaves and new growth shoots (2), the later of which contain the highest concentration of toxins (3). It's seeds are a minor food source for several North American birds, and the leaves are commonly eaten by deer. A USDA report (2) cites "Medzihorský et al.’s (2022) literature review documented 454 herbivorous arthropod species feeding on black locust worldwide." It is commonly visited by bees (the resulting "Acacia Honey", as well as the flowers, are safely eaten by humans). ISOPODS: In terms of isopods and Black Locust trees, the only reference of any kind I could find relating one to the other was a promising study (4) investigating populations of isopods in Hungary between 1995 and 2011. The study focuses on Black Locust tree farms where the tree represents a monoculture, thus making it the primary/only leaf litter available. 17 isopod species were found across 27 plantations, most commonly Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellium collicola. The warm, dry habitat of these plantations was suggested to be the cause of being populated largely by generalist species, with other species expected to have wandered in from surrounding native forests. No reference is made to toxicity. Sounds good. TINFOIL HAT: YELLOW? Many of the insect species that feed on Black Locust trees feature vivid yellow, orange, and red colors: Black Locust Bug Locust Borer Locust Twig Borer Locust Leaf Miner Black Locust Aphid Red Humped caterpillar (generalist) Not sure if this is aposematism or if sequestering toxalbumins is a thing. At very least their diet is conducive to vivid coloration. Something to consider in future. Sources: (1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15083944/ (2) https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_ROPS.pdf (3) https://poisonousplants.cvmbs.colostate.edu/plant/45 (4) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236632613_Isopod_communities_of_Black_locust_Robinia_pseudoacacia_L_plantations_in_Transdanubia_Hungary