Dear colleagues,
we just published the first description of vibrational communication of
the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (/Halyomorpha halys/), which opens
possibilities for developing new control measures against this
destructive pest some of you may be familiar with (at least in the
States, although it's starting to cause problems here in Europe, too).
Please forward to people you know that work with BMSB. Reprints can be
obtained by contacting me or the corresponding author.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phen.12150/abstract
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*Vibrational communication of the brown marmorated stink bug
(/Halyomorpha halys/)*
J. Polajnar, L. Maistrello, A. Bertarella and V. Mazzoni
Physiological Entomology; Version of Record online: 14 JUN 2016, DOI:
10.1111/phen.12150
Keywords: Biotremology; Heteroptera; mating sequence; signal repertoire;
substrate-borne vibrational communication
Abstract: Communication with substrate-borne vibrational signals is
common in the family Pentatomidae, although this aspect of biology of
the invasive pest /Halyomorpha halys/ Stål remains unexplored so far. In
the present study, the behaviour of single animals and pairs is observed
on a bean plant and a loudspeaker membrane at the same time as recording
substrate vibrations with a laser vibrometer, with the aim of adding to
the existing description of mating behaviour. The male/H. halys/ emit
long, narrow-band vibrational signals spontaneously to which the nearby
females reply with their own vibrational signals, triggering male
searching. During this phase, the insects emit two (in females) or three
song types (in males) in various combinations, until they come into
physical contact, after which the final male song type, characterized by
tremulation, is the only kind of vibratory emission. Females never start
singing spontaneously and the mating sequence does not proceed if either
partner is silent. Male signals do not attract males or females and so
vibrations are unlikely to play a role in maintaining the aggregations
that are characteristic of this species, whereas female signals show
promise for developing behavioural manipulation methods against this
invasive pest.
Best regards,
Jernej
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*Jernej Polajnar, PhD
Asistent z doktoratom / Research Assistant*
Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo <http://www.nib.si> / National
Institute of Biology <http://www.nib.si/eng>
Oddelek za raziskave organizmov in ekosistemov
<http://www.nib.si/oddelki/oddelek-za-raziskave-organizmov-in-ekosistemov>
Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research
<http://www.nib.si/eng/index.php/departments/department-of-organisms-and-ecosystems-research>
Vecna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Phone: + 386 (0)59 232 780
Fax: + 386 (0)1 257 38 47
E-mail: jernej.polaj...@nib.si <mailto:jernej.polaj...@nib.si>
