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Role of Visual Cues in Host Searching Behaviour of Exorista sorbillans Widemann, a Parasitoid of Muga Silk Worm, Antheraea assama Westwood

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Abstract

Visual cues are known to be used by numerous animal taxa to gather information on quality and location of resources. The present work was carried out to understand if visual cues are involved in host localization by E. sorbillans and if so, does an associative learning influence host localization behaviour. The Uzi fly, Exorista sorbillans Widemann is an endoparasitoid of the silkworm, Antheraea assama Westwood and a serious threat to the silk production industry in general. Associative learning in the fly was studied by using green and orange coloured paper disk in presence or absence of a reward, sugar or silk worm larvae. Training for the rewards in the learning experiment was given for 2 days for 30 min at regular intervals. Flies positively associated colored paper disks with the presence of hosts which indicated that they might employ visual learning of microhabitats associated with host habitats, or the hosts themselves. Our results showed that in context of host foraging, training with colours as host associated cues was more reliable than training with colours in the absence of hosts. Thus associative learning may be considered to be an essential component for survival of Exorista sorbillans.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India for financial grant through the project SR/SO/AS-77/2006. Authors are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Life Sciences, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

    Dipsikha Bora & Bhabesh Deka

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  1. Dipsikha Bora
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Correspondence to Dipsikha Bora.

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Bora, D., Deka, B. Role of Visual Cues in Host Searching Behaviour of Exorista sorbillans Widemann, a Parasitoid of Muga Silk Worm, Antheraea assama Westwood. J Insect Behav 27, 92–104 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-013-9409-1

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