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Use of learned visual cues during habitat location by Brachymeria intermedia
Author(s) -
Drost Y. C.,
Cardé R. T.
Publication year - 1992
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/j.1570-7458.1992.tb01612.x
Subject(s) - biology , parasitoid , hymenoptera , sensory cue , host (biology) , olfactory cues , kairomone , ecology , zoology , olfaction , neuroscience
Like many other parasitoids, Brachymeria intermedia (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) uses olfactory cues to find its host, but in addition it appears to use learned visual cues to focus its searching efforts at the macrohabitat level. In laboratory experiments, females were held in cages where Lymantria dispar pupae were hidden either in a vertical, tree‐like structure or on the floor. After four days females had learned to search for hosts in the structure in which they previously had found pupae. Such training was reversible. During similar tests in a semi‐natural situation, in which pupae were hung from a tree trunk or were hidden under leaf litter, females also tailored their subsequent searching to favour the macrohabitat where hosts previously had been found. This parasitoid most likely uses a combination of visual and olfactory cues during host searching.