TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant volatiles are behavioral cues for adult females of the gall wasp Antistrophus rufus
AU - Tooker, John F.
AU - Crumrin, Amy L.
AU - Hanks, Lawrence M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank J.G. Millar for advice on the bioassay scheme, A.B. Bennett, J.A. Mohler, K.R. Rinkenberger, J.F. Westberg and M.W. Tooker for research assistance, W.A. König (Institute for Organic Chemistry, University of Hamburg) for quantifying enantiomeric ratios of chiral monoterpenes, A.R. Deans for rendering Fig. 1, and H. Wilkinson and D. Huffstutler of the Landscape Horticulture Research Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for providing land for the common garden and maintaining the plantings. This work was in partial fulfillment of a PhD degree for JFT from UIUC. Funding was provided by a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research and the Harley J. Van Cleave Fellowship from the School of Integrative Biology, UIUC, and the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement 2001-35316-11275.
PY - 2005/6
Y1 - 2005/6
N2 - The purpose of this study was to identify plant volatiles that provide host location cues for adult females of the gall wasp Antistrophus rufus Gillette (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Larvae of this species inhabit flowering stems of the prairie perennial Silphium laciniatum L. (Asteraceae). Adult females responded to volatile compounds emitted by stems of S. laciniatum in field olfactometer bioassays. Plant volatiles were monoterpenes, including, in descending order of abundance, racemic α- and β-pinene (∼50 % "+" enantiomer for both), (+)-limonene, (-)-camphene, and β-myrcene. In laboratory bioassays, females responded to aeration extracts of plant stems, the full blend of synthetic monoterpenes, and the four-component blend of α-pinene, β-pinene, (+)-limonene, and (-)-camphene. This monoterpene blend apparently serves as an olfactory cue for host plant location for female A. rufus and is the first such cue to be reported for a cynipid gall wasp. Species-specific ratios of plant monoterpenes may provide cues for gall wasp females to distinguish between plant species and choose appropriate hosts for oviposition. The olfactometer and bioassay techniques developed for this research may be useful for field bioassays of other types of minute arthropods.
AB - The purpose of this study was to identify plant volatiles that provide host location cues for adult females of the gall wasp Antistrophus rufus Gillette (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Larvae of this species inhabit flowering stems of the prairie perennial Silphium laciniatum L. (Asteraceae). Adult females responded to volatile compounds emitted by stems of S. laciniatum in field olfactometer bioassays. Plant volatiles were monoterpenes, including, in descending order of abundance, racemic α- and β-pinene (∼50 % "+" enantiomer for both), (+)-limonene, (-)-camphene, and β-myrcene. In laboratory bioassays, females responded to aeration extracts of plant stems, the full blend of synthetic monoterpenes, and the four-component blend of α-pinene, β-pinene, (+)-limonene, and (-)-camphene. This monoterpene blend apparently serves as an olfactory cue for host plant location for female A. rufus and is the first such cue to be reported for a cynipid gall wasp. Species-specific ratios of plant monoterpenes may provide cues for gall wasp females to distinguish between plant species and choose appropriate hosts for oviposition. The olfactometer and bioassay techniques developed for this research may be useful for field bioassays of other types of minute arthropods.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00049-005-0298-4
DO - 10.1007/s00049-005-0298-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:20044374395
SN - 0937-7409
VL - 15
SP - 85
EP - 88
JO - Chemoecology
JF - Chemoecology
IS - 2
ER -