Abstract
We used the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi reared in its host Acyrthosiphon pisum to examine if male sexual attractive responses can be conditioned to an odour (vanilla) that is not present in the natural environment. We used prior mating experience (exposure to females) as a non-conditioning stimulus and vanilla odour as a conditioning stimulus. The behavioural responses were tested in a glass Y-olfactometer just after eclosion (i.e., initial response) and after a training experience (i.e., trained response). During the 10-min training period individual males were allowed to copulate with a virgin female with or without vanilla odour present, or were exposed only to vanilla odour. Wing fanning was a recurrent behaviour which denoted increased sexual attraction to a volatile stimulus. Total time and time doing wing fanning in each olfactometer arm were determined. Vanilla odour, which initially did not elicit sexual-related behaviours, triggered strong sexual attractive responses when males were trained to females plus vanilla odour. Neither copulation only nor vanilla odour only treatments elicited such behaviours in trained males. The results are discussed in terms of parasitoid learning ability and its ecological consequences.
Highlights
Learning allows female parasitoids to display plastic responses in changing environments while searching for oviposition sites (Turlings et al, 1993)
Our results demonstrate associative learning capacity in relation to an artificial stimulus in A. ervi males when the stimulus is experienced during copulation
Copulation with females in the presence of cadaverine essence, can change trained male responses to cadaverine from repulsion to attraction and sexual arousal, in a phenomenon which has been called Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) (Pfaus et al, 2001)
Summary
Learning allows female parasitoids to display plastic responses in changing environments while searching for oviposition sites (Turlings et al, 1993). In spite of its relevance, no solid evidence has been published in relation to the occurrence of learning in males searching for females. Females are prone to copulate during a brief period of time, approximately 8 h after eclosion (Mackauer, 1969). After this period, they tend to refuse males and spend most of their time searching for an oviposition site. We addressed the question if males of the parasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) are able to learn by association during copulation, and respond to novel stimuli not present in their natural environment. We hypothesise that males learn to respond to a training stimulus (e.g., vanilla odour) present in the mating environment, and we propose that this learning is mainly associative
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