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A learning‐related variation in electroantennogram responses of a parasitic wasp
Author(s) -
VET LOUISE E. M.,
JONG RUURD DE,
GIESSEN WILANT A. VAN,
VISSER J. H.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1990.tb00512.x
Subject(s) - biology , hymenoptera , host (biology) , parasitoid , food preference , zoology , larva , olfaction , ecology , food science
Odour responses of parasitic insects, in search of their hosts, can change due to experience. Leptopilina heterotoma (Thomson) (Hymenoptera; Eucoilidae), a parasitic wasp of drosophilid larvae, is known to alter its preference for odours emanating from host food substrates through learning. These kinds of behavioural modifications in insects are assumed to be the result of complex processes in the brain. The results presented in this report, however, suggest that this learning‐related behavioural variation is not restricted to brain processes but that it involves changes in sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurones.