Infochemicals mediating the foraging behaviour of Aleochara bilineata Gyllenhal adults: sources of attractants

• Published in: Entomologia experimentalis et applicata Vol. 90; no. 2; pp. 199 - 205
• Main Authors: Royer, L. (McGill Univ., Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que. (Canada). Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences), Boivin, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.02.1999; Blackwell
• Subjects: ALEOCHARA BILINEATA; Animal ethology; Anthomyiidae; ATRAYENTES; ATTRACTANTS; ATTRACTIF; Biological and medical sciences; BIOLOGICAL CONTROL; BRASSICA NAPUS; cabbage maggot; Coleoptera; Coleoptera; Staphylinidae; cabbage maggot; COMPORTEMENT ALIMENTAIRE; CONTROL BIOLOGICO; CONTROL DE PLAGAS; DELIA RADICUM; Diptera; FEEDING HABITS; frass; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HABITOS ALIMENTARIOS; HOST PARASITE RELATIONS; host-plant complex; infochemical; integument; kairomone; LUTTE ANTIRAVAGEUR; LUTTE BIOLOGIQUE; PEST CONTROL; predator foraging behaviour; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; RELACIONES HUESPED PARASITO; RELATION HOTE PARASITE; Staphylinidae; Laboratory study; Feeding behavior; Staphylinidae; Coleoptera; Insecta; Biological control; Predatory behavior; Foraging behavior; Kairomone; Allelochemicals; Feeding; Pest; Arthropoda; Host plant; Olfaction; Perception; Predation; Invertebrata; Chemical stimulus
• ISSN: 0013-8703; 1570-7458
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1570-7458.1999.00439.x

Aleochara bilineata Gyll. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) adults feed on eggs and larvae of cabbage maggot, Delia radicum (L.) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), and might be used to control this pest. We undertook tests in a Y‐tube olfactometer to determine if infochemicals are involved in the food foraging behaviour of A. bilineata adults and to precisely determine the potential sources of stimuli. A. bilineata adults oriented toward the stimuli from both the food‐plant of the prey (rutabaga: Brassica napus var. napobrassica (L.) Reichb.) and the prey‐plant complex (rutabaga infested by cabbage maggot larvae), but adults significantly preferred the effluvia of infested to uninfested rutabaga in a choice test. The sources of infochemicals in the infested rutabaga were the cabbage maggot larvae themselves and their frass. However, in a choice test adults preferred the effluvia of the larvae to that of the damaged rutabaga from which those larvae were obtained. It is not expected that a generalist predator uses precise herbivore‐derived signals in food foraging activity, but the preference of A. bilineata adults for the larval volatiles over frass volatiles may reflect the dependence of this species on dipteran pupae for reproduction.