| الوصف: |
Native to eastern Asia, the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a polyphagous invasive pest in North America and Europe. Since its initial discovery in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1996, H. halys has spread to 44 states in the continental US, many of which have reported significant economic damages to agriculture. One promising management strategy for H. halys currently being investigated is classical biological control, or the introduction of natural enemies. Specifically, egg parasitoid Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is considered the primary candidate biocontrol agent for field release, making it the subject of rigorous laboratory host range testing. However, these laboratory host range evaluations are ecologically-constricted and only provide the physiological host range of T. japonicus. Additional factors influencing an egg parasitoid’s true host range, such as its reception of host-related semiochemicals, effects of its parental host species on host location, and habitat overlap between suitable host species have yet to be adequately studied. Therefore, experiments focusing on these vital aspects of T. japonicus host preference were conducted to formulate a more accurate prediction of the parasitoid’s host specificity and ecological host range. ☐ To investigate if T. japonicus shows preference for H. halys adult kairomones over those of a physiologically-suitable, native species’, we conducted behavioral assays exposing female parasitoids to various leaf surface substrates contaminated with the chemical footprints of gravid female H. halys or Podisus maculiventris. In all three leaf substrate treatments, Trissolcus japonicus displayed clear preferences for leaf surfaces contaminated by its coevolved host H. halys. Female parasitoids resided significantly longer on H. halys contaminated leaf surfaces than on leaf surfaces contaminated by P. maculiventris. These results indicate that T. japonicus may be able to determine the ... |
