Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T00:03:22.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The influence of host food plants on host recognition by four aphidiine parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. Powell*
Affiliation:
AFRC Farmland Ecology Group, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, UK
A.F. Wright
Affiliation:
AFRC Farmland Ecology Group, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, UK
*
W. Powell, Entomology & Nematology Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ, UK.

Abstract

The attack rate of four parasitoids against different aphid species was investigated in the absence and presence of leaves from aphid food plants. The parasitoids used, Aphidius ervi Haliday, A. rhopalosiphi De Stefani, A. picipes (Nees) and Ephedrus plagiator Nees, varied in the extent of their host ranges. The presence of plant leaves significantly influenced the attack rate of A. ervi and A. rhopalosiphi, the two parasitoids with the most restricted host ranges, but did not appear to affect attack rates by the more polyphagous A. picipes and E. plagiator. Consideration of these results together with those from previous studies on the host preferences of laboratory populations of A. ervi and A. rhopalosiphi leads to the conclusion that genotype is probably determining the responses of individual parasitoids to semiochemicals involved in host recognition. It is proposed that field populations of oligophagous aphid parasitoids consist of a mixture of specialist and generalist individuals.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bouchard, Y. & Cloutier, C. (1985) Role of olfaction in host-finding by the aphid parasitoid Aphidius nigripes. Journal of Chemical Ecology 11, 801808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, P.J., Powell, W. & Loxdale, H.D. (1984) Reservoirs for Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae), a polyphagous parasitoid of cereal aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 74, 647656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decker, U.M. (1988) Evidence for semiochemicals affecting the reproductive behaviour of the aphid parasitoids Aphidius rhopalosiphi De Stefani-Perez and Praon volucre Haliday (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) – a contribution towards integrated pest management in cereals. 193 pp. PhD thesis, University of Hohenheim, Germany.Google Scholar
Doutt, R.L. (1959) The biology of parasitic Hymenoptera. Annual Review of Entomology 4, 161182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hérard, F., Keller, M.A., Lewis, W.J. & Tumlinson, J.H. (1988) Beneficial arthropod behaviour mediated by airborne semiochemicals. IV. Influence of host diet on host-oriented flight chamber responses of Microplitis demolitor Wilkinson. Journal of Chemical Ecology 14, 15971606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, W.J. & Tumlinson, J.H. (1988) Host detection by chemically mediated associative learning in a parasitic wasp. Nature, London 331, 257259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAuslane, H.J., Vinson, S.B. & Williams, H.J. (1990) Influence of host plant on mate location by the parasitoid Campoletis sonorensis (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Environmental Entomology 19, 2631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, T.F. (1983) The effect of plants on the host relations of a specialist parasitoid of Heliothis larvae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 34, 7884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nemec, V. & Starý, P. (1985) Genetic diversity of the parasitoid Aphidius ervi on the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum in Czechoslovakia (Hymenoptera, Aphidiidae; Homoptera, Aphididae). Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca 82, 8894.Google Scholar
Nemec, V. & Starý, P. (1986) Population diversity centers of aphid parasitoids (Hym.: Aphidiidae): a new strategy in integrated pest management. pp. 485488in Hodek, I. (Ed.) Ecology of aphidophaga. Prague, Academia.Google Scholar
Nordlund, D.A. (1987) Plant produced allelochemics and their involvement in the host selection behaviour of parasitoids. pp. 103107in Labeyrie, V., Fabres, G. & Lachaise, D. (Eds) Insects – plants. Dordrecht, Dr W. Junk.Google Scholar
Pennacchio, F. & Tremblay, E. (1986) Biosystematic and morphological study of two Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) ‘biotypes’ with the description of a new species. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Entomologia Agraria Filippo Silvestri 43, 105117.Google Scholar
Powell, W. & Wright, A.F. (1988) The abilities of the aphid parasitoids Aphidius ervi Haliday and A. rhopalosiphi De Stefani Perez (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) to transfer between different known host species and the implications for the use of alternative hosts in pest control strategies. Bulletin of Entomological Research 78, 683693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, W. & Zhang, Z.L. (1983) The reactions of two cereal aphid parasitoids, Aphidius uzbekistanicus and A. ervi to host aphids and their food-plants. Physiological Entomology 8, 439443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, D.P., Feeny, P.P. & Root, R.B. (1970) Habitat selection by the aphid parasite Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and hyperparasite Charips brassicae (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Canadian Entomologist 102, 15671578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandlan, K. (1980) Host location by Coccygomimus turionellae (Hym.: Ichneumonidae). Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 27, 233245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shuster, D.J. & Starks, K.J. (1974) Response of Lysiphlebus testaceipes in an olfactometer to a host and a non-host insect and to plants. Environmental Entomology 3, 10341035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starý, P. (1964) Food specificity in the Aphidiidae (Hymenoptera). Entomophaga 9, 9199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starý, P. (1976) Aphid parasites (Hymenoptera, Aphidiidae) of the Mediterranean area. 95 pp. The Hague, Dr W.Junk.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unruh, T.R., White, W., González, D., Gordh, G. & Luck, R.F. (1983) Heterozygosity and effective size in laboratory populations of Aphidius ervi (Hym., Aphidiidae). Entomophaga 28, 245258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vet, L.E.M. (1983) Host-habitat location through olfactory cues by Leptopilina clavipes (Hartig) (Hym.: Eucoilidae), a parasitoid of fungivorous Drosophila. The influence of conditioning. Netherlands Journal of Zoology 33, 225248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vinson, S.B. (1975) Biochemical coevolution between parasitoids and their hosts. pp. 1448in Price, P.W. (Ed.) Evolutionary strategies of parasitic insects and mites. New York, Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vinson, S.B. (1977) Behavioural chemicals in the augmentation of natural enemies. pp. 237279. in Ridgway, R.L. & Vinson, S.B. (Eds) Biological control by augmentation of natural enemies. New York, Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vinson, S.B. (1984a) How parasitoids locate their hosts: a case of insect espionage. pp. 325348in Lewis, T. (Ed.) Insect communication. London, Academic Press. (Symposium of the Royal Entomological Society of London No. 12).Google Scholar
Vinson, S.B. (1984b) The chemical ecology of the parasitoid host relationship. pp. 205233in Bell, W.J. & Cardé, R.T. (Eds) The chemical ecology of insects. London, Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H.J., Elzen, G.W. & Vinson, S.B. (1988) Parasitoidhost-plant interactions, emphasizing cotton (Gossypium). pp. 171200. in Barbosa, P. & Letourneau, D.K. (Eds) Novel aspects of insect-plant interactions. New York, John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar