The role of vision in the host orientation behaviour of Hylobius warreni

Abstract

1 Visual stimuli, often in combination with olfactory stimuli, are frequently important components of host selection by forest-dwelling phytophagous insects. 2 Warren root collar weevil Hylobius warreni Wood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a native insect in western Canada, where larvae feed primarily on lodgepole pine Pinus contorta and can girdle and kill young trees. This weevil is an emerging problem in areas heavily impacted by mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins. 3 No olfactory attractants have been identified for this insect, making monitoring and management difficult. Thus, we investigated the role of vision in the host-finding behaviour of Warren root collar weevil in the absence of known olfactory cues. 4We conducted three experiments in field enclosure plots aiming to characterize aspects of host-finding behaviour by adult Warren root collar weevil. 5 We found that both male and female weevils were readily attracted to vertical plastic silhouettes in the shape of a trunk, crown or tree at distances of less than 4 m. This pattern of attraction persisted over 2 years in two slightly different study designs.Blinding the insects removed their ability to orient to these silhouettes, indicating that host-finding behaviour has a strong visual component. The use of different colour trunks and crowns (black, white and green) did not change the patterns of attraction of the insects to the silhouettes. 6 Exploiting visual attraction in this walking insect may present a new management tool in forest protection strategies.

Influence of Botrytis cinerea (Helotiales: Sclerotiniaceae) infected leaves of Vitis vinifera (Vitales: Vitaceae) on the preference of Epiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

“…Tactile stimuli indeed play a role in host selection, whereas literature (Reddy & Raman ; Machial et al . ) reinforces that olfactory stimuli play the principal role in host‐plant selection. Using this dictum, in this study, we have considered the olfactory stimuli as the principal and earliest trigger factor.…”

Visual cues of oviposition sites and spectral sensitivity of Cydia strobilella L.

“…Both insect pollinators and herbivores use a wide range of sensory cues to locate their plant resources, for example, emitted volatile compounds (Harrewijn et al, 1994;Renwick and Chew, 1994;Knolhoff and Heckel, 2014), temperature (Seymour and Schultze-Motel, 1997;Angioy et al, 2004;Lamprecht et al, 2013), shape (Rausher, 1978;Mackay and Jones, 1989;Machial et al, 2012), and colour (Prokopy and Owens, 1983;Tsuji and Coe, 2014;Paris et al, 2015). The use of colour cues by insects has been studied intensely.…”

Role of Vision and Mechanoreception in Bed Bug, Cimex lectularius L. Behavior

“…Attraction to vertical objects that mimic a host has been demonstrated in Warren root collar weevil, Hylobius warreni (Wood) [ 37 ] and the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) [ 38 ]. Adults of the red flour beetle were more likely to visit black pillars against a white background than white pillars, and the number of visits to black pillars increased with pillar height [ 18 ].…”