Visual and Olfactory Female-Borne Cues Evoke Male Courtship in the Aphid Parasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenopte
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Visual and Olfactory Female-Borne Cues Evoke Male Courtship in the Aphid Parasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Giovanni Benelli & Giulia Giunti & Russell H. Messing & Mark G. Wright
Revised: 1 February 2013 / Accepted: 12 February 2013 / Published online: 27 February 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract We investigated the courtship and mating behavior of the pan-tropical polyphagous endoparasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck. The courtship and mating displays, the magnitude of male-male sexual approaches and the role of female-borne cues evoking male courtship behavior were quantified. The sequence of events leading to copulation in this parasitoid did not differ from that found for other braconids. Females refused to copulate more than once. Same-sex courtships were observed among males and their possible role in an adaptive context is discussed. Olfactory female-borne cues played a key role in eliciting the courtship responses of males. Males were attracted by freshly dead females, but not by dead females soaked in hexane, nor by visual cues from females alone. Intense male wing fanning behavior was elicited by crushed abdomens of virgin females, suggesting that the female abdomen is the source of a short-distance pheromone crucial in evoking male courtship. Further studies are required to clarify the exact nature of the chemicals involved. Keywords Aphis gossypii . biological control . mass-rearing . Myzus persicae . parasitic wasp . wing fanning
G. Benelli (*) : G. Giunti Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy e-mail: [email protected] G. Benelli : G. Giunti : M. G. Wright Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3050 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI, USA R. H. Messing Kauai Agricultural Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 7370 Kuamoo Rd., Kapaa, HI, USA
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J Insect Behav (2013) 26:695–707
Introduction Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a pan-tropical broadly oligophagous endoparasitoid of many aphids of economic importance (Kavallieratos et al. 2004; Tomanović et al. 2009). This wasp most likely originated in northern India or Pakistan, but is currently distributed throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean region, central Europe, Africa, Australia and South America (Starý 1975; Adisu et al. 2002; Kavallieratos et al. 2008, 2010; Tomanović et al. 2012). Newest research revealed the presence of A. colemani in the western coast of southeastern Europe (Adriatic Sea) and central Balkans (Kavallieratos et al. 2013). It was introduced and released in Hawaii in 1999, where it has become well established and contributes to biological control of A. gossypii in field crops such as taro and cucumber (Messing and Klungness 2002). It has been used as a biological control agent against greenhouse aphids in the United States (Starý 1975), Norway (Hofsvang and Hagvar 1975), and the United Kingdom (Biological Control Informa
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