Host-recognizing kairomones for parasitic wasp, Anisopteromalus calandrae, from larvae of azuki bean weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis.

Abstract

Host-recognizing kairomones for the stinging behavior of the parasitic wasp, Anisopteromalus calandrae, were identified on host azuki bean weevil larvae, Callosobruchus chinensis (L.). The kairomones were extracted with acetone from Chinese green beans, from which emerged wasps and host weevils had been removed. The kairomones are a mixture of triacylglycerols and fatty acids, each of which is separately active, and with no observable synergistic effect between them. These compounds are known to be constituents of an oviposition-marking pheromone of host azuki bean weevils. However, they differ from the previously reported saturated hydrocarbons and diacylglycerols of the kairomone that another parasitic wasp, Dinarmus basalis, uses for the host recognition of C. chinensis. Thus, A. calandrae and D. basalis selectively utilize different constituents of the oviposition-marking pheromone of C. chinensis as host-recognizing kairomones.