Volatiles of fungal cultivars act as cues for host-selection in the fungus-farming ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus germanus.

ABSTRACT: Many wood-boring insects use aggregation pheromones during mass colonization of host trees. Bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are a model system, but much less is known about the role of semiochemicals during host selection by ambrosia beetles. As an ecological clade within the bark beetles, ambrosia beetles are obligately dependent on fungal mutualists for their sole source of nutrition. Mass colonization of trees growing in horticultural settings by exotic ambrosia beetles can occur, but aggregation cues have remained enigmatic. To elucidate this mechanism, we first characterized the fungal associates of the exotic, mass-aggregating ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus germanus in Southern Germany. Still-air olfactometer bioassays documented the attraction of X. germanus to i

SUBMITTER: Gugliuzzo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10140376 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature