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Mate Recognition in the South African Citrus Thrips Scirtothrips aurantii (Faure) and Cross-Mating Tests with Populations from Australia and South Africa

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Abstract

South African citrus thrips (Scirtothrips aurantii) is a pest of citrus, mango and other horticultural species in its native range, which encompasses a large part of Africa. Its adventitious establishment in Australia in 2002 was a major cause for concern. The thrips, 11 years after its incursion into Australia, has remained on plants of a single host plant genus Bryophyllum (Crassulaceae). Characterization of the Specific-Mate Recognition System of the Bryophyllum population of thrips present in Australia and behavioral bioassay experiments revealed that compounds found in the insects’ body extracts play a crucial role in mate recognition of S. aurantii. Reciprocal cross-mating experiments between the Australian Bryophyllum insects and South African S. aurantii from horticultural host plants showed that mating frequencies were significantly lower in test crosses (Bryophyllum x horticultural) than in controls (Bryophyllum x Bryophyllum or horticultural x horticultural), which indicates there are at least two distinct species within S. aurantii and suggests further tests of this interpretation. The results suggest that these tiny phytophagous insects localize mates through their association with a particular host plant species (or closely-related group of species). Also, specific tests are suggested for clarifying the species status of the host-associated populations of S. aurantii in Africa.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Tim Grout (CRI, Nelspruit) and Stefan Neser (PPRI, Pretoria) for their generous donation of expertise as well as the use of their respective South African research facilities. We also acknowledge Peter Stephen, Aruna Manrakhan, Danica Marlin, and Ronald Walter for additional South African support. An Australian Postgraduate Award PhD scholarship (to MAR) was provided by the Australian Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    M. A. Rafter & G. H. Walter

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  1. M. A. Rafter
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  2. G. H. Walter
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Correspondence to M. A. Rafter.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Table 6 Thrips species that were in initial replications of reciprocal cross-mating tests. Replicates with any of these species included were removed from the subsequent analysis (see text). The Scirtothrips specimen could not be associated with a species, but was not S. aurantii. The presence of thrips species other than S. aurantii in these samples meant we could not derive accurate mortality data for S. aurantii across host species
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Rafter, M.A., Walter, G.H. Mate Recognition in the South African Citrus Thrips Scirtothrips aurantii (Faure) and Cross-Mating Tests with Populations from Australia and South Africa. J Insect Behav 26, 780–795 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-013-9391-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-013-9391-7

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