Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2006) 120, 91-98

Stuart A. Campbell and John H. Borden (2006)
Close-range, in-flight integration of olfactory and visual information by a host-seeking bark beetle
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 120 (2), 91-98
Abstract: A long-standing controversy questions whether foraging bark beetles assess the suitability of individual host trees using cues at close range while flying or engage in random landing followed by contact assessment. In most cases, visual discrimination mechanisms are ignored. We show that pheromone-responding mountain pine beetles (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), can visually discriminate between 'host' (black) and 'non-host' (white) traps arranged in small clusters, in the absence of additional host olfactory information, and that males (but not females) demonstrate a greater preference for combined host visual and olfactory cues. However, white, non-host traps baited with a host volatile were as attractive as unbaited, black host traps. Our results support the hypotheses that when deciding to land, the MPBs integrate visual and olfactory information and can process cues in both sensory modes at relatively close range (< 2 m). Thus, host selection mechanisms in this species are unlikely to be random with respect to either sensory mode.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Stuart Campbell, John H. Borden

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Dendroctonus ponderosae