Department of Entomology, Royal Ontario Museum, M5S 2C6, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Chem Ecol. 1991 Nov;17(11):2045-52. doi: 10.1007/BF00987990.
Coenosia tigrina larvae feed on earthworms. We hypothesized that earthworm mucus contains a kairomone that stimulates oviposition behavior in adultC. tigrina females, thus minimizing the search area in the soil required for newly eclosed larvae to find earthworms. In bioassays, adult females responded with extension of the ovipositor 25-43% of the time to earthworm-mucus-soaked filter paper disks compared to 6-7% in response to water-soaked disks. Ovipositor extension on mucus-soaked disks was followed by egg-laying 29% of the time and 0% of the time on water-soaked disks. Egg-laying byC. tigrina followed a diurnal periodicity, with most eggs laid in the latter half of the photophase even in the absence of earthworm mucus. More eggs were deposited from 1600 to 1800 hr by females given access to earthworm mucus during that period than were deposited by females not given access. There was no difference in the number of eggs deposited from 0600 to 0800 hr, by females given access to earthworm mucus or not. This is a time of day when few eggs are normally laid. This paper is the first report of an earthworm-produced kairomone in an insect-earthworm interaction. The kairomone may have potential for enhancing biological control of the onion maggot,Delia antiqua, which is a prey of adultC. tigrina.
黄宽缘步甲幼虫以蚯蚓为食。我们假设蚯蚓黏液中含有一种信息素，能够刺激成年黄宽缘步甲雌虫产卵，从而使刚孵化的幼虫在土壤中寻找蚯蚓时最小化搜索范围。在生物测定中，与水浸湿的滤纸盘相比，成年雌虫对蚯蚓黏液浸湿的滤纸盘的产卵器伸展反应时间为 25-43%，而对水浸湿的滤纸盘的反应时间为 6-7%。在黏液浸湿的滤纸盘上产卵器伸展后，有 29%的时间会产卵，而在水浸湿的滤纸盘上则不会产卵。黄宽缘步甲的产卵具有昼夜周期性，即使没有蚯蚓黏液，大多数卵也会在光相的后半段产下。在该时段内，允许接触蚯蚓黏液的雌虫产下的卵比不允许接触的雌虫多。在 0600 到 0800 小时之间，允许接触蚯蚓黏液的雌虫和不允许接触的雌虫产卵数量没有差异。这是一天中通常产卵较少的时间。本文首次报道了一种在昆虫与蚯蚓相互作用中由蚯蚓产生的信息素。这种信息素可能有助于增强对洋葱蛆，即成年黄宽缘步甲的猎物的生物防治。
