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Mate Finding Via a Trail Sex Pheromone by Aphytis melinus DeBach (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) Males

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Abstract

Finding mates is frequently problematic for parasitoid wasps. In some parasitoid species, males rely on volatile, airborne sex pheromones for locating mates, while in others they rely on contact, trail sex pheromones. This study sought to shed light on the mate finding mechanism of males of Aphytis melinus. Specifically, the goal was to determine whether A. melinus males use airborne or contact pheromones, or both, for locating mates. The study showed that A. melinus males rely on a contact, trail sex pheromone for locating mates: A. melinus males responded to substrate-borne cues left by virgin females, while they did not respond to airborne cues from virgin females. Specifically, males more frequently encountered virgin females when the females walked across an arena to a fixed encounter point compared to when they were manually placed at the encounter point, and spent greater than expected time on surfaces previously visited by virgin females compared to control surfaces not visited by females. In contrast, males did not respond to airborne cues from virgin females in an airflow olfactometer nor to traps baited with virgin females in the field, and spent similar lengths of time on surfaces visited by newly-mated or 24-h mated females versus control surfaces not visited by females. The main effect of the trail sex pheromone on the behavior of A. melinus males was to direct their search and, so, increase the likelihood of encountering mates. This effect apparently is not preceded by longer-range attraction of males via an airborne female sex pheromone. Overall, the results of this study support a hypothesis in which A. melinus males searching on substrates on which females may be present rely exclusively on a trail sex pheromone to locate mates.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by USDA-NRI grant Size-fitness relationships in a parasitoid wasp and implications for augmentative biological control to JSB. Lisa Forster (University of California, Riverside) provided advice, technical support, and insects. The suggestions of Dr. Brad Vinson, Refugio Lomelí-Flores, and Andrea Joyce (all at Texas A&M University), and of two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2475, USA

    Julio S. Bernal

  2. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Robert F. Luck

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  1. Julio S. Bernal
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  2. Robert F. Luck
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Correspondence to Julio S. Bernal.

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Bernal, J.S., Luck, R.F. Mate Finding Via a Trail Sex Pheromone by Aphytis melinus DeBach (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) Males. J Insect Behav 20, 515–525 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-007-9092-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-007-9092-1

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