Abstract
In Lepidoptera, host plant selection is first conditioned by oviposition site preference of adult females followed by feeding site preference of larvae. Dietary experience to plant volatile cues can induce larval and adult host plant preference. We investigated how the parent’s and self-experience induce host preference in adult females and larvae of three lepidopteran stem borer species with different host plant ranges, namely the polyphagous Sesamia nonagrioides, the oligophagous Busseola fusca and the monophagous Busseola nairobica, and whether this induction can be linked to a neurophysiological phenotypic plasticity. The three species were conditioned to artificial diet enriched with vanillin from the neonate larvae to the adult stage during two generations. Thereafter, two-choice tests on both larvae and adults using a Y-tube olfactometer and electrophysiological (electroantennography [EAG] recordings) experiments on adults were carried out. In the polyphagous species, the induction of preference for a new olfactory cue (vanillin) by females and 3rd instar larvae was determined by parents’ and self-experiences, without any modification of the sensitivity of the females antennae. No preference induction was found in the oligophagous and monophagous species. Our results suggest that lepidopteran stem borers may acquire preferences for new olfactory cues from the larval to the adult stage as described by Hopkins’ host selection principle (HHSP), neo-Hopkins’ principle, and the concept of ‘chemical legacy.’
Highlights
In Lepidoptera, host plant selection is a crucial event for progeny survival and fitness [1]
For the polyphagous species S. nonagrioides, when both the parents and themselves have been continuously exposed to the vanillin diet, the females oriented significantly towards odours of this diet, compared to the naïve females (Fig 2A; females VV compared to females CC: P = 0.0002)
When their parents and themselves had not been exposed continuously to the vanillin diet, the S. nonagrioides females behaved like the naïve ones (Fig 2A; females VC compared to females CC: P = 0.4753)
Summary
In Lepidoptera, host plant selection is a crucial event for progeny survival and fitness [1]. Many species of Lepidoptera have highly mobile larvae that can engage in host plant selection [3]. Induction of Preference by Dietary Experience in Moths possess olfactory receptors which play an important role in discriminating odours that emanate from different plants, allowing for host-plant recognition and selection [4]. In this context, host plant volatile compounds are essential for distant attraction to the host plant and are involved in both oviposition and feeding sites preferences
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