Oviposition Behavior of the Mimosa Webworm Homadaula Anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) Robert Charles North Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1981 Oviposition behavior of the mimosa webworm Homadaula anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) Robert Charles North Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation North, Robert Charles, "Oviposition behavior of the mimosa webworm Homadaula anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) " (1981). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 7453. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7453 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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In all cases we have filmed the best available copy. UniversiV Micrdfilms International 300 N. ZEEB RD., ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 8209153 North, Robert Charles OVIPOSITION BEHAVIOR OF THE MIMOSA WEBWORM HOMADAULA ANISOCENTRA MEYRICK (LEPIDOPTERA: PLUTELLIDAE) Iowa State University PH.D. 1981 University Microfilms IntGrnStiOn&l m X.Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. MI 48106 PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages ^ 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print 3. Photographs with dark background t/ 4. Illustrations are poor copy 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages 8. Print exceeds margin requirements 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print 11. Page(s) lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. Page(s) seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages numbered . Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages 15. Other University Microfilms International Oviposit ion behavior of the mimosa webworm Homadaula anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) by Robert Charles North A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Entomology Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1981 i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS 5 Experiments Performed 5 Experimental Animals 8 Plant Preparation 9 Cage Construction 10 Preparation of Treatments J3 Experimental Procedures 29 Trap Regime 32 Emergence of the Overwintering Pupae 33 Tree Search 33 Behavior 34 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 35 CONCLUSIONS 66 LITERATURE CITED 71 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 78 1 INTRODUCTION Among phytophagous insects the choice of a host plant may be exercised by either immatures or adults. The limited mobility of many immature forms places the major burden of host choice on the ovipositing female (Ehrlich and Raven, 1964; Beck, 1974; Wiklund, 1974). Such ovipositing females may make one or more distinct choices: 1) a specific plant species within the plant community, 2) specific Individual plants within the host population (Wolfson, 1980), and 3) specific parts or areas upon an individual plant. Most research to date has dealt with components of interspecific host choice (e.g., Yamamoto and Fraenkel, I960; Yamamoto et al., 1969; Wiklund, 1975; Feeny, 1976; Stadler and Hanson, 1978). Some attention, however, has been focused upon intra- specific host selection (e.g., Prokopy, 1972; Payne et al., 1977; Birch, 1978). Beck (1965) described the behavioral events involved in oviposition as that of "recognition" of and "orientation" to the host plant. This is then followed by an orientation to a rather specific oviposition site, and finally by oviposition itself. A two step process for oviposition by the tobacco hornworm moth has been postulated (Yamamoto et al., 1969). This apparently involves two separable kairomones, those attractants that I bring the insect to the plant and those stimulants that induce egg-laying. A "three-tier discrimination" scheme has been developed for Pieris brassicae (L.) (Behan and Schoonhoven, 1978), which involves: 1) visual detection of the host plant, 2) olfactory detection via antennae, and 3) contact discrimination by way of the tarsi. The initial interaction 2 in this attraction-sequence is the approach of the moth or butterfly to the host plant. Doutt (1964) suggested four steps for the successful location of hosts by parasitoids: host habitat location, host location, host acceptance, and host suitability. Vinson (1975) added host regula tion as a fifth step and suggested that similar steps are necessary for prey finding by predaceous insects and plant finding by herbivorous insects, i.e., food and/or oviposition. The insect's olfactory chemoreceptors, which are involved in sensing volatile plant compounds and which are ultimately responsible for the suc cess of the attraction process, are associated with primary sensory neurons (about 2.5 X 10^) on each antenna, which in turn feed into two nerve trunks that lead to the insect's brain (Sanes and Hildebrand, 1976). Interactions between odor molecules and specific receptor sjtes (see Klopping and Meade, 1971; Kafka and Neuwirth, 1975; Wright, 1977, for discussions of molecular interactions) trigger sensory neurons on the antennal flagella and thereby elicit specific neuronal messages (Dethier, 1967). These messages, in turn, may induce some behavioral response, such as attraction and/or repulsion, or no response at all (Boeckh et al., 1965). Chemotactîle cues are involved only in the final step of oviposition. Fieri s brassicae depends on tarsal contact for testing suitability of the leaf (Ma and Schoonhoven, 1973), whereas Fieri s rapae (L.), (Rothschild and Schoonhoven, 1977) generally taps the leaf surface with the antennae. It is assumed that these patterns and sequences in oviposition site selection enable them to select sites that are capable of supporting larval growth but that are not overpopulated. 3 Corbet (1973) has reported an oviposit ion pheromone in larval mandibular glands of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller. The ovipositing female moths respond in such a way that the number of eggs they lay is related to the amount of the larval pheromone (and so to the density of the population of larvae) at the oviposit ion site. Aggregation of larvae presumably allows more effective exploitation of the environment than is possible for single individuals, a phenomenon called the "group effect" (Matthews and Matthews, 1978). Grouped larvae are sometimes better able to overcome the resistance of the host plant (Ghent, I960), satiate potential predators (Brown, 1975), detect or confuse predators, or modify the physical environment to make it more suitable (Matthews and Matthews, 1978). The mimosa webworm, Homadaula anisocentra Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) was first recorded in the United States in 1940 (Clarke, 1943). It was found feeding on ornamental mimosa (Albizzia julibrissin Durazzini) in Washington, D.C. Webster and St. George (1947) were the first to report the mimosa webworm feeding on the ornamental honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.). In only forty years, it has expanded its range throughout the eastern states and