Abstract
Specific mate recognition relies on the chemical senses in most animals, and especially in nocturnal insects. Two signal types mediate premating olfactory communication in terrestrial habitats: sex pheromones, which blend into an atmosphere of plant odorants. We show that host plant volatiles affect the perception of sex pheromone in males of the African cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis and that pheromone and plant volatiles are not perceived as independent messages. In clean air, S. littoralis males are attracted to single synthetic pheromone components or even the pheromone of a sibling species, oriental cotton leafworm S. litura. Presence of host plant volatiles, however, reduces the male response to deficient or heterospecific pheromone signals. That plant cues enhance discrimination of sex pheromone quality confirms the idea that specific mate recognition in noctuid moths has evolved in concert with adaptation to host plants. Shifts in either female host preference or sex pheromone biosynthesis give rise to new communication channels that have the potential to initiate or contribute to reproductive isolation.
Highlights
Specific mate communication and recognition, which is shaped during adaptation to natural habitats, involves both sex signals and environmental or habitat sensory cues and is under sexual and natural selection (Paterson 1978, 1980; Endler 1992; Blows 2002; Boughman 2002; Scordato et al 2014; Rosenthal 2017)
Borrero et al - p. 2 sex pheromone quality confirms the idea that specific mate recognition in noctuid moths has evolved in concert with host plant adaptation
We show that males of S. littoralis best respond to a mixture of conspecific, complete sex pheromone and volatiles of the larval food plant cotton
Summary
Specific mate communication and recognition, which is shaped during adaptation to natural habitats, involves both sex signals and environmental or habitat sensory cues and is under sexual and natural selection (Paterson 1978, 1980; Endler 1992; Blows 2002; Boughman 2002; Scordato et al 2014; Rosenthal 2017). The effect of plant volatiles on the male moth behavioural response to sex pheromone has long been investigated (Landolt & Phillips 1997; Reddy & Guerrero 2004). Different messages conveyed by plant volatiles would account for discrepant behavioural effects when blended with sex pheromone. This is evidenced by a response modulation according to internal physiological state in males and females of African cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae): unmated female moths are attracted to floral odorants for adult feeding, and soon after mating to cotton leaf volatiles for egglaying (Saveer et al 2012). Cotton leafworm moths further discriminate between volatiles of preferred and non-preferred larval food plants (Thöming et al 2013; Proffit et al 2015) and between volatiles from healthy and damaged cotton plants (Zakir et al 2013a,b; Hatano et al 2015)
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