TY - JOUR
T1 - Searching behavior of cryptolaemus montrouzieri (coleoptera
T2 - Coccinellidae) in response to mealybug sex pheromones
AU - Urbina, Alvaro
AU - Verdugo, Jaime A.
AU - López, Eugenio
AU - Bergmann, Jan
AU - Zaviezo, Tania
AU - Flores, Maria Fernanda
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.
PY - 2018/8/3
Y1 - 2018/8/3
N2 - Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is a predatory insect widely commercialized for the augmentative biological control of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). Though visual factors that guide this predator to its prey have been reported, the chemical cues that they may also use have not been well studied. In this study, the response of C. montrouzieri to synthetic sex pheromone of two mealybug species, Pseudococcus calceolariae (Maskell) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), were assessed through Y-tube olfactometer and characterization of searching behavior with a video-tracking system. In the olfactometer, both C. montrouzieri males and females showed a significant response to the pheromones of both mealybug species separately. The searching behavior differs depending on the pheromone species, with a shorter total distance, reduction of mean velocity and higher meander with the pheromone stimulus of P. calceolariae when compared to P. viburni. Therefore, it is shown that this predator responds to the pheromone stimuli of its prey, and can do it in a species-specific way. These results can have a practical application through the use of pest pheromones to attract predators to a crop as part of an integrated pest management program.
AB - Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is a predatory insect widely commercialized for the augmentative biological control of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). Though visual factors that guide this predator to its prey have been reported, the chemical cues that they may also use have not been well studied. In this study, the response of C. montrouzieri to synthetic sex pheromone of two mealybug species, Pseudococcus calceolariae (Maskell) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), were assessed through Y-tube olfactometer and characterization of searching behavior with a video-tracking system. In the olfactometer, both C. montrouzieri males and females showed a significant response to the pheromones of both mealybug species separately. The searching behavior differs depending on the pheromone species, with a shorter total distance, reduction of mean velocity and higher meander with the pheromone stimulus of P. calceolariae when compared to P. viburni. Therefore, it is shown that this predator responds to the pheromone stimuli of its prey, and can do it in a species-specific way. These results can have a practical application through the use of pest pheromones to attract predators to a crop as part of an integrated pest management program.
KW - behavior
KW - chemical cue
KW - predator
KW - sex pheromone
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055491192&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jee/toy168
DO - 10.1093/jee/toy168
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055491192
VL - 111
SP - 1996
EP - 1999
JO - Journal of Economic Entomology
JF - Journal of Economic Entomology
SN - 0022-0493
IS - 4
ER -