Nancy D. Epsky, nepsky@saa.ars.usda.gov1, Barbara D. Dueben, bdueben@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu2, John Sivinski, jsivinski@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu2, Martin Aluja, alujam@ecologia.edu.mx3, Peter E. A. Teal, pteal@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu2, and Robert R. Heath, rheath@saa.ars.usda.gov1. (1) USDA-ARS-SHRS, 13601 Old Cutler Road, Miami, FL, (2) USDA/ARS, CMAVE, 1700 SW 23rd Dr, Gainesville, FL, (3) Instituto de Ecologia, A.C, Km 2.5 Antigua Carretera a Coatepec, Apartado Postal 63, 91000, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
Availability of a pheromone-based trapping system for parasitoids such as D. longicaudata would add a valuable tool to document successful use for biological control. Video analysis was used to record male-female interactions, olfactometer and windtunnel studies were used to evaluate response of virgin adults to opposite sex individuals, GC-MS was used to quantify release rate and determine periodicity of volatile chemicals released from these parasitoids. In olfactometer tests, virgin females were attracted to virgin males, and virgin males were attracted to both virgin females and virgin males. Some males displayed wing fanning behavior when close to the volatile source from virgin females. Flight tunnel bioassays confirmed response of virgin females to volatile chemicals from virgin males and to traps baited with virgin males. Results from this study indicate that the mating system of D. longicaudata includes male-produced pheromones, which may be used for long-range attraction of both males and females, and also female-produced pheromones, which produce short-range behavioral effects in males only.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Braconidae
Diachasmimorpha longicaudataKeywords: pheromone, parasitoid
Poster (.pdf format, 93.0 kb)