Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sitona weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are a species complex of pests of many leguminous crops worldwide, causing damage to young plants as adults and to rootlets as larvae, resulting in significant yield losses. Timely detection of migrating adult weevils is needed to determine when deployment of control measures becomes necessary. With the aim of developing plant volatile?based lures for Sitona spp. detection, we investigated the responses of S. humeralis to host plant related aromatic compounds.
RESULTS
In olfactometer studies, both male and female S. humeralis responded positively to the odor of alfalfa flowers, a source of aromatic volatiles. In single sensillum recordings, basiconic sensilla located on the third and fourth terminal segments of the antennal club of both sexes were found to respond to benzaldehyde at 10?5 and 10?4 g doses, suggesting that the weevil is able to detect this compound at the peripheral sensory level. In field studies, S. humeralis was attracted to benzaldehyde in the spring, but not in the autumn.
CONCLUSION
Benzaldehyde, described in the present study, may be a suitable candidate for the development of monitoring tools for S. humeralis.
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