Insect oviposition induces volatile emission in herbaceous plants that attracts egg parasitoid

SUMMARYThe egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) (Hymenoptera:Scelionidae) responded to synomones emitted by leguminous plants induced by feeding and oviposition activity of the bug Nezara viridula (L.)(Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). This was shown by laboratory bioassays using a Y-tube olfactometer. Broad bean leaves (Vicia faba L.) damaged by feeding activity of N. viridula and on which host egg mass had been laid produced synomones that attracted T. basalis. By contrast,undamaged leaves or feeding-damaged leaves without eggs did not attract wasp females. French bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) also emitted attractive synomones when they were damaged by host feeding and carrying e…

Ecological infrastructures in a vineyard of West Sicily

CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL SIGNALS MEDIATING CONSPECIFIC AND HETEROSPECIFIC AGGREGATION BEHAVIOR OF FIRST INSTAR STINK BUGS

We investigated cues that mediate the aggregation behavior of immature pentatomid bugs by using nymphs of six different pentatomid bug species (Nezara viridula, Acrosternum hilare, Chlorochroa ligata, Chlorochroa sayi, Thyanta pallidovirens, and Euschistus conspersus). When first instars of any two species were put together in a Petri dish, they readily formed heterospecific aggregations similar to their natural conspecific aggregations. The chemical profiles of first and second instar nymphs of each species were determined by solvent extraction with pentane, followed by GC-MS analysis. Immature bugs of the different species had some compounds in common, and some that were more species spec…