Following a scented beetle: larval faeces as a key olfactory cue in host location of Stegobium paniceum (Coleoptera: Ano
- PDF / 246,172 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 6 Downloads / 128 Views
CHEMOECOLOGY
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Following a scented beetle: larval faeces as a key olfactory cue in host location of Stegobium paniceum (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) by Lariophagus distinguendus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) Giovanni Benelli • Noemi Pacini • Barbara Conti Angelo Canale
•
Received: 28 November 2012 / Accepted: 22 December 2012 / Published online: 3 January 2013 Ó Springer Basel 2012
Abstract Lariophagus distinguendus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a generalist solitary ectoparasitoid parasitising immature stages of at least 11 foodstuff beetles from five families, including species developing in seeds of Poaceae and Fabaceae. In this study, we tested the role of visual and olfactory stimuli affecting L. distinguendus host location in the trophic context of Stegobium paniceum (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) infesting chickpeas, Cicer arietinum (Fabales: Fabaceae). When either visual plus olfactory cues or olfactory cues alone were provided, S. paniceum-infested chickpeas were more attractive than uninfested chickpeas to naı¨ve L. distinguendus females. Larval faeces of S. paniceum also evoked strong attraction to female wasps. Uninfested chickpeas covered with host faeces were preferred over uninfested ones without faeces, while infested chickpeas were as attractive as healthy chickpeas plus host faeces. Overall, results demonstrated that L. distinguendus females orient their hostseeking decisions mainly on the basis of faeces-borne olfactory stimuli. Further research is on-going to characterise the volatiles from S. paniceum larval faeces to evaluate their attractiveness towards L. distinguendus females. Keywords Chemical cue Drugstore beetle Host-seeking behaviour Stored product pest Introduction Among parasitic wasps, host-seeking behaviour is divided into four successive phases: host habitat location, host G. Benelli (&) N. Pacini B. Conti A. Canale Entomology Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via San Michele degli Scalzi 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy e-mail: [email protected]
location, host recognition and host acceptance (Vinson 1998). During these steps, several kinds of cues (e.g. visual, olfactory and vibrational stimuli) are perceived by parasitoids and can affect the females’ decision. Among visual cues, colours, shapes, and feeding damage patterns play a key role in the host finding process of several parasitic wasps (Wa¨ckers and Lewis 1999; Segura et al. 2007; Desouhant et al. 2010; Benelli and Canale 2012). Vibrational host-borne cues could also affect parasitoid decision making during host location (Meyho¨fer and Casas 1999; Canale 2003; Canale and Benelli 2012). Furthermore, in several species of pteromalids (Belda and Riudavets 2010), eulophids (Rojas et al. 2006; Cusumano et al. 2010), encyrtids (James and Grasswitz 2005), mymarids (Krugner et al. 2008), ichneumonids (Orre et al. 2010) and braconids (Gols and Harvey 2009; Erb et al. 2010; Holopainen and Gershenzon 2010; Mandour et al. 2011; Benelli et al. 2012a), mated females rely on ol
Data Loading...
