Novel In vitro Procedures for Rearing a Root-Feeding Pest (Heteronychus arator) of Grasslands.

ABSTRACT: Optimizing plant protection against insect herbivory relies on testing plant defense mechanisms and how the insect response to these defensive strategies. Such experiments benefit from using insects generated from standardized rearing protocols since this reduces stochastic variation. Such protocols can be challenging to devise, however, especially for root herbivores. These insects generally have complex and long life cycles, which are often only poorly described. Moreover, using field-captured root herbivores is often suboptimal because it involves extensive excavation from sites selected by chance (their location is not obvious) and larval stages are frequently indistinguishable beyond the family level. We investigated in vitro procedures to improve the availability of the African Black

SUBMITTER: Hiltpold I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5003920 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature