Shades of yellow: interactive effects of visual and odour cues in a pest beetle.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The visual ecology of pest insects is poorly studied compared to the role of odour cues in determining their behaviour. Furthermore, the combined effects of both odour and vision on insect orientation are frequently ignored, but could impact behavioural responses.

Methods

A locomotion compensator was used to evaluate use of different visual stimuli by a major coleopteran pest of stored grains (Sitophilus zeamais), with and without the presence of host odours (known to be attractive to this species), in an open-loop setup.

Results

Some visual stimuli-in particular, one shade of yellow, solid black and high-contrast black-against-white stimuli-elicited positive orientation behaviour from the beetles in the absence of odour stimuli. When host odours were also

SUBMITTER: Arnold SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4950555 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature