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Taste input from tarsal sensilla is related to egg‐laying behavior in P apilio hospiton
Author(s) -
Sollai Giorgia,
Biolchini Maurizio,
Loy Francesco,
Solari Paolo,
Crnjar Roberto
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/eea.12622
Subject(s) - biology , sensillum , taste , chemoreceptor , bitter taste , host (biology) , botany , stimulation , zoology , horticulture , anatomy , food science , receptor , ecology , neuroscience , biochemistry
In herbivorous insects, host selection involves various sensory modalities (sight, smell, taste), but the contact chemoreceptors capable of detecting stimuli both from host and non‐host plants play an important role in the final steps of oviposition behavior. Female butterflies scratch and drum the leaf surface and taste the compounds present in plant saps with their tarsal chemosensilla. We assumed that tarsal taste sensitivity may be related to the breadth of host selection in ovipositing females of P apilio hospiton G éné ( L epidoptera: P apilionidae). The spike activity of tarsal taste basiconic sensilla was recorded in response to stimulation with NaCl, bitter compounds, and carbohydrates, with the aim of characterizing the gustatory receptor neurons ( GRN s) and of comparing the response patterns in the light of differences in acceptability of host plants. Then we studied the sensitivity of GRN s to saps of the host plants F erula communis L., P eucedanum paniculatum L oisel, P astinaca latifolia (Duby) DC . (all A piaceae), and R uta lamarmorae Bacch., Brullo et Giusso (Rutaceae), and evaluated the relationship between taste sensitivity and oviposition preference. The results indicate that (1) each sensillum houses sugar‐, bitter‐, and salt‐sensitive cells; (2) the spike activity of the gustatory neurons in response to plant saps produces a different response pattern across all active GRN s; and (3) the number of eggs laid on each plant is highest on F . communis and lowest on R . lamarmorae . These results suggest that the varying activity of the tarsal GRN s may affect host plant acceptability and that ovipositing females of P . hospiton seem to be able to discriminate between host plants.