Open AccessComparative host selection responses of specialist (Helicoverpa assulta) and generalist (Helicoverpa armigera) moths in complex plant environments
Author(s) -
Weizheng Li,
Xiaohui Teng,
Hongfei Zhang,
Ting Liu,
Qiong Wang,
Yuan GuoHui,
Xinfeng Guo
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0171948
Subject(s) - helicoverpa armigera , biology , helicoverpa , generalist and specialist species , host (biology) , botany , lepidoptera genitalia , arachis hypogaea , pepper , nicotiana tabacum , helicoverpa zea , solanaceae , horticulture , noctuidae , ecology , biochemistry , habitat , gene
We tested the behavioral responses of ovipositing females and natal larvae of two sibling species, a generalist Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) and a specialist Helicoverpa assulta (Guenée), to odor sources emitted from different combinations of six plant species (tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum ; hot pepper, Capsicum annuum ; tomato, Solanum esculentum ; cotton, Gossypium hirsutum ; peanut, Arachis hypogaea ; maize, Zea mays ). Under the conditions of plant materials versus corresponding controls, both stages of both species could find their corresponding host plants. However, H . assulta females and larvae exhibited a supersensitive and an insensitive response, respectively. Under the conditions of tobacco paired with each plant species, H . assulta females exhibited more specialized ovipositional response to tobacco than its sibling. When each plant species were combined with tobacco and tested against tobacco reference, peanut played an opposite role in the two species in their ovipositional responses to tobacco, and cotton can enhance the approaching response of H . armigera larvae when combined with tobacco. It seems that two attractive host plants also can act antagonistically with respect to host selection of the generalist via volatile exchange. Tomato should better be excluded from host list of H . assulta .