Diamondback Moth (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) Exhibits Oviposition and Larval Feeding Preferences Among Crops, Wild plants, and Ornamentals as Host Plants

2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 644-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Newman ◽  
M. You ◽  
L. Vasseur
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-138
Author(s):  
W. E. Klingeman ◽  
F. Chen ◽  
H. J. Kim ◽  
P. C. Flanagan

Abstract Dogwood sawfly (Macremphytus tarsatus Say) is a native, phytophagous insect that relies on Cornus sp. host plants for larval development. Feeding injury by dogwood sawflies is primarily aesthetic and seldom results in host plant death. Still, native and non-native dogwoods have not been evaluated for susceptibility to larval feeding by this aesthetically damaging wasp. Ten species or cultivars of dogwoods that are either naturalized native plants or economically significant landscape plants were assayed for host suitability to dogwood sawfly larvae in no-choice and choice experiments. Flowering, kousa and corneliancherry dogwoods were consistently ranked among the least susceptible host plants while ‘Sibirica’ tatarian, gray, and ‘Flaviramea’ golden-twig dogwoods were highly preferred hosts. Preliminary GC/MS comparisons of foliar metabolite extracts from all 10 species have identified five peaks of interest that varied between resistant and susceptible hosts. These results suggest that certain chemical constituents in foliage of dogwood species may be important predictors of host palatability. More research is needed to confirm this hypothesis before crossbreeding for sawfly resistance can proceed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-142
Author(s):  
William E. Klingeman

Abstract The bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis (Haworth)) is a polyphagous, native pest of numerous deciduous and evergreen ornamental plants. Bagworm larvae were used to investigate host plant susceptibility among ten species and cultivars of maples that are economically important and commonly encountered in landscapes in the eastern United States. Data analyses from 48-hour choice assays, conducted in the laboratory during 2000 and 2001, indicated that differences existed among maples for bagworm feeding preferences and host plant susceptibility. Results from the 48-hour trials were not as accurate as seasonal no-choice assays, however. No-choice assays during both seasons quantified resistance among maples that limited larval bagworm survival and development. Measurements of larval feeding injury demonstrated resistance in paperbark maple (Acer griseum (Franch.) Pax) and trident maple (A. buergerianum Miq.) when compared with other maples. Laboratory results were corroborated during 2001 by a no-choice field assay, in which early instar bagworm larvae performed well on the majority of maples. In contrast, paperbark maple and trident maple were resistant to bagworm feeding, while ‘Autumn Blaze’ Freeman maple (A. x freemanii E. Murray), a hybrid cross obtained by breeding A. rubrum with A. saccharinum, showed moderate resistance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Robson Thomaz Thuler ◽  
Fernando Henrique Iost Filho ◽  
Hamilton César De Oliveira Charlo ◽  
Sergio Antônio De Bortoli

Plant induced resistance is a tool for integrated pest management, aimed at increasing plant defense against stress, which is compatible with other techniques. Rhizobacteria act in the plant through metabolic changes and may have direct effects on plant-feeding insects. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of cabbage plants inoculated with rhizobacteria on the biology and behavior of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae). Cabbage seeds inoculated with 12 rhizobacteria strains were sowed in polystyrene trays and later transplanted into the greenhouse. The cabbage plants with sufficient size to support stress were then infested with diamondback moth caterpillars. Later, healthy leaves suffering injuries were collected and taken to the laboratory to feed P. xylostella second instar caterpillars that were evaluated for larval and pupal viability and duration, pupal weight, and sex ratio. The reduction of leaf area was then calculated as a measure of the amount of larval feeding. Non-preference for feeding and oviposition assays were also performed, by comparing the control treatment and plants inoculated with different rhizobacterial strains. Plants inoculated with the strains EN4 of Kluyvera ascorbata and HPF14 of Bacillus thuringiensis negatively affected the biological characteristics of P. xylostella when such traits were evaluated together, without directly affecting the insect behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-145
Author(s):  
Diego Rubiales

The broomrapes are plants that have modified their biology to feed on roots of other plants, emerging above the soil only to flower. There are about 150 broomrape species, most of which infect wild plants in natural habitats without causing economic problems. However, a few of them have adapted to agricultural ecosystems becoming troublesome root parasitic weeds. The most damaging ones are Orobanche cernua, O. crenata, O. cumana, O. minor, Phelipanche aegyptiaca and P. ramosa all of which severely constrain important dicot crops in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are continuously extending to new areas, showing an ability to evolve thereby enlarging their host ranges, adapting to new areas and overcoming resistances introduced by the breeder. As flowering plants disseminated by seeds, broomrape distribution and management (containment, sanitation, cultural practices, and biological and chemical control) fall under the purview of weed science. However, broomrapes differ from standard weeds as they behave as pathogens that attach to host roots to feed on them. As for any other disease, the host plants might protect themselves by defence mechanisms that can be selected by plant breeders to develop resistant cultivars. In spite of these efforts, rather than being contained, the broomrape threat is increasing, not only extending to new suitable areas but also adapting genetically to infect new crops and to increase virulence.


2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurion C.K. Ang ◽  
Rehan Silva ◽  
Sean L. Maxwell ◽  
Myron P. Zalucki ◽  
Michael J. Furlong

2010 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Henniges-Janssen ◽  
G. Schöfl ◽  
A. Reineke ◽  
D.G. Heckel ◽  
A.T. Groot

AbstractThe diamondback moth (DBM, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae)) consumes a wide variety of brassicaceous host plants and is a common pest of crucifer crops worldwide. A highly unusual infestation of a sugar pea crop was recorded in Kenya in 1999, which persisted for two consecutive years. A strain (DBM-P) from this population was established in the laboratory and is the only one of several strains tested that can complete larval development on sugar peas. The oviposition acceptance and preference of the DBM-P strain was assessed in the presence of cabbage plants, sugar pea plants or both, in comparison to another strain (DBM-Cj) that was collected from cabbage and is unable to grow on pea plants. As expected, DBM-Cj females preferred to oviposit on cabbage plants. Surprisingly, DBM-P females also laid most eggs on cabbage and very few on peas. However, they laid significantly more eggs on the cabbage plant when pea plants were present. Our findings suggest that DBM-P manifested the initial stages of an evolutionary host range expansion, which is incomplete due to lack of oviposition fidelity on pea plants.


1963 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Y. Zacharuk

In a study of the larval feeding preferences of eleven species of Elateridae, representing Lepturoidini, Pyrophorini and Elaterinae, from soil, sand and wood habitats, all larvae were found to feed more on animal than plant food when these were offered separately. When given a choice, the larvae of only one species, Lepturoides linearis (L.), selected animal food exclusively and only those of Limonius minutus (L.) selected plant food exclusively. No consistent relationship was found between food preferences and taxonomic group, habitat, size, or morphology of the sense organs of the species. It is suggested that under laboratory conditions differences in food preferences among species are mediated primarily by differences in the physiology of their sense organs, and these may be an expression of different nutritional requirements among certain species.


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