Environmental Entomology (1997) 26, 624-631

R.S. McDonald and J.H. Borden (1997)
Host-finding and upwind anemotaxis by Delia antiqua (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) in relation to age, ovarian development, and mating status
Environmental Entomology 26 (3), 624-631
Abstract: A dual-port wind tunnel was used to test hypotheses that odor-mediated anemotaxis in the onion maggot, Delia antiqua (Meigen), to volatiles of onion, Allium cepa L., is affected by differences in age, sex, mated status, and ovarian development. In the absence of odor and air movement, adults of both sexes dispersed randomly in the wind tunnel. They displayed significant; albeit weak (~15%), anemotactic (upwind) response to air movement at 8.0 cm/s. In 12 h comparisons of virgin females tested at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 d of age with gravid, mated females (10-12 d), anemotactic and discriminatory responses to onion odor of females aged 4-10 d were comparable (~30%), but were consistently lower than the responses of gravid, mated females (~45%). Male upwind response to host odor increased linearly with age over 10d. When 10-d-old males were tested together with females in the wind tunnel, however, sinificantly fewer males were attracted to onion than when females were absent. Ten-day-old protein-deprived virgin and mated females (both previtellogenic) responded to onion odor in a similar manner as did gravid, mated females. The response of mated, 10-d-old previtellogenic females was lower than that of gravid, mated females. We conclude that upwind response by D. antiqua to host odor is independent of female ovarian development or mated status. Such a response would serve to draw females to their oviposition sites and may assist males in locating sites where females are likely to arrive.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): 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.
	Delia antiqua	Onion/garlic/leek (Allium)