The future of semiochemical research in host selection and pest management of the red turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus valens).

New molecular understanding of insect olfaction provides opportunities to explore herbivore response to variation in host cues. The red turpentine beetle Dendroctonus valens varies in its response to host volatiles by concentration and by local host plant. Conceiving bark beetle host selection as dynamic neurophysiology, subject to selection and rapid evolution, will yield fruitful questions and avoid typological conclusions. This is particularly true as D. valens expands into China and the Palearctic and encounters novel potential hosts. Understanding the molecular basis of the rapid evolution of herbivore olfaction will increase accurate prediction of novel host species preference, identify universal olfactory cues which may guide D. valens selection of individual hosts; and suggest novel semiochemical solutions to pest management needs.