Insects (2022) 13 (4 - 312)

W. Marie Alexander, Benjamin D. Rubin and Jeremy N. McNeil (2022)
The effect of wind speed on male potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, responses to primary host plant volatiles and female sex pheromone
Insects 13 (4 - 312)
Abstract: In fall, alate males of the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), migrate from their summer (secondary) host plants, such as potatoes, to primary host plants, such as roses, where they mate with wingless oviparae who produce the overwintering egg stage. Males are weak fliers and generally walk towards a pheromone source under windy conditions, so we tested the hypothesis that upwind walking behaviour in response to wind velocity would be affected by the volatile cues present. We compared male responses to the odour of a rugosa rose cutting alone and to the combination of host plant volatiles and the female sex pheromone under a range of wind speeds in a laboratory walking bioassay. The proportion of males responding decreased as the wind speed increased, but at all wind velocities, the responses to the combined odours were higher than to the host plant alone. However, at any given wind velocity, the speed at which responding aphids moved was not influenced by the odour source. These findings support the idea that host plant volatiles serve as long-distance cues for males and that the female sex pheromone is used once on the host plant.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Jeremy N. McNeil

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Macrosiphum euphorbiae	Rosa (crop)	Canada (east)