Abstract
Adult Diaphorina citri (ACP) use visual and chemical cues to locate young citrus flush shoots on which they forage and oviposit, and they use vibrational communication duetting calls as cues to help locate mates. For individual pairs, calling and mating usually peaks between 10:00 and 15:00. To explore whether call rates (calls/h) are affected by interactions with nearby conspecifics, rates were compared in small citrus trees on which either 5 or 25 ACP female and male pairs had been released at 17:00 for later recording from sunrise (06:00) to 22:00. Final ACP locations were noted 40 h after release. Call rates were similar in both treatments during normal mating hours. However, rates were significantly higher for low- than high-density treatments between 06:00 and 10:00, which suggests calling during this period may be affected by conspecific density. Both sexes aggregated on flush at both densities. We discuss the potential that ACP producing calls near sunrise, outside of normal mating hours, might benefit from gains in reproductive fitness in low-density contexts if they call not only to locate mates but also to locate preferred flush—in which case, co-opting of vibrations to disrupt both mating and foraging may be feasible.
Highlights
Methods to co-opt forage- and mate-locating cues for management of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), are drawing increased focus to reduce its populations and its spread of the economically devastating huanglongbing disease in citrus groves [1,2]
The mechanisms by which D. citri locate flush shoots are not fully understood, but their positive phototropic behavior [8,9,10] assists in locating shoots on the outer branches, and the preference of females for young flush is known to be guided by assessments of tissue hardness [11,12] and chemical cues that vary with leaf age [13,14]
The frequent occurrence of crawling and scraping movements was confirmed by inspection of the video recordings, which showed additional movements that were too weak to be detected as vibrations by the accelerometer
Summary
Methods to co-opt forage- and mate-locating cues for management of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), are drawing increased focus to reduce its populations and its spread of the economically devastating huanglongbing disease in citrus groves [1,2]. Adults of both sexes locate host citrus trees through visual and olfactory cues [3] and have similar propensities to disperse onto new host trees when conspecific populations build up to levels that reduce reproductive fitness [4]. Females are attracted to odors from feeding damage by conspecifics but, once on the tree, show preference for uninfested young flush in the presence of odors from feeding damage [15]
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