Branco M, van Halder I, Franco J C, Constantin R, Jactel H
Centro de Estudos Florestais (CEF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon (ISA-UTL), Portugal.
Bull Entomol Res. 2011 Dec;101(6):667-74. doi: 10.1017/S0007485310000696. Epub 2011 Feb 2.
During the last decades, an increasing number of predators were found to use specific prey pheromones as chemical cues. Beyond its ecological relevance, this knowledge has practical applications on insect conservation and pest control. In this study, we present first evidence that two species of the family Dasytidae (Coleoptera) Aplocnemus brevis Rosenhauer and A. raymondi Sainte-Claire Deville use the sex pheromone of the pine bast scale Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse (Hemiptera: Matsucoccidae) as kairomone to locate this prey. The feeding habits and biology of Aplocnemus species are practically unknown. In the laboratory, the adults of Aplocnemus sp. accepted M. feytaudi egg masses as food source as well as other diets. Females represented more than 90% of Aplocnemus sp. attracted to the pheromone lures. We believe that females use this olfactory cue to locate suitable places for oviposition and that larvae are the predators of Matsucoccus. This study further demonstrates that the response to the kairomone elicited short prey searching times, about 23% of the individuals appeared less than 12 min after lure exposure, being consistent with the hypothesis of prey specialization. Habitat and geographical distribution predict an ancestral association of A. brevis with M. feytaudi and of A. raymondi with M. pini. Nevertheless, a recent prey shift of A. raymondi to the invasive M. feytaudi in Corsica is in progress.
在过去几十年中，人们发现越来越多的捕食者将特定猎物的信息素用作化学线索。除了具有生态相关性外，这一知识在昆虫保护和害虫防治方面也有实际应用。在本研究中，我们首次提供证据表明，拟步甲科（鞘翅目）的两种昆虫——短拟步甲Aplocnemus brevis Rosenhauer和雷氏拟步甲A. raymondi Sainte-Claire Deville，利用松干蚧Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse（半翅目：松干蚧科）的性信息素作为利它素来定位这种猎物。拟步甲属昆虫的食性和生物学特性实际上尚不清楚。在实验室中，拟步甲属成虫接受松干蚧的卵块作为食物来源以及其他食物。被性信息素诱饵吸引的拟步甲属中，雌性占比超过90%。我们认为雌性利用这种嗅觉线索来寻找合适的产卵地点，并且幼虫是松干蚧的捕食者。本研究进一步表明，对利它素的反应使猎物搜索时间缩短，约23%的个体在诱饵暴露后不到12分钟就出现了，这与猎物专一化的假设一致。栖息地和地理分布预测短拟步甲与松干蚧、雷氏拟步甲与松球蚧存在祖先关联。然而，雷氏拟步甲最近正在向科西嘉岛入侵的松干蚧转移猎物。
