Effects of Experience on Host Preference of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) and its mechanisms
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
Dai, Shiau-Min
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
The seed beetle, Callosoburcus maculatus (F.) is an endophagous insect. The beetle lived in the seed before adult emergence, the larva or the adult thus has enough opportunity to obtain the information of host traits, and it may influence the host preference of the adult. In this study, adults emerged from various hosts were used to test whether larval or pre-adult experience affect host preference of the adult. The results showed that there is no significant difference on the host acceptance by seed beetles that reared on adzuki bean or mung bean, when no-choice tests of host acceptance on adzuki bean, mung bean and black soybean were conducted. But adults exhibited significant difference of host preference, when free choice tests of host preference on different seeds were studied. However, the host preference has no significant difference between adults that reared on adzuki bean and mung bean or emerged from adzuki and mung bean powder, these results indicate that the larval or pre-adult host experience does not influence the adult host preference. Whereas, adult host experience did affects her host preference. Therefore, host transfers were used to test the effect and the duration of adult experience on host preference of the adult. The number of eggs laid on host drastically decreased when adults transferred from adzuki bean to mung bean, but the adult does not decrease her number of eggs laid on mung bean when transfer from mung bean. If the adult was transferred from mung bean to adzuki bean, the number of eggs laid significantly increased. In this study, we first found also that the effect of host experience on adzuki bean could last 2.5 hours. Besides, we provide evidence to support that the proportion of host and the size of host would affect host preference of the adult. When big mung bean and small adzuki bean were provided simultaneously to make a free choice test of host preference, adults laid more eggs on big mung bean compare to the test with normal size of adzuki bean and mung bean. But the proportion of eggs on small adzuki bean was still significantly higher than that on big mung bean. It shows that the host species is a more important factor that affects host preference. Adults decreased the preference of adzuki bean after removing the seed coat, suggested that there is oviposition stimuli on seed coat of adzuki bean that raise the host preference of adzuki bean.
Subjects
四紋豆象
寄主偏好
寄主經驗
Host preference
Experience
Callosobruchus maculatus
Type
thesis