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. 2018 Jan 1;18(1):1.
doi: 10.1093/jisesa/iex097.

Identification of the Alarm Pheromone of Cowpea Aphid, and Comparison With Two Other Aphididae Species

Sandrine Mariella Bayendi Loudit  1   2 , Antoine Boullis  1 , François Verheggen  1 , Frédéric Francis  1
Affiliations

Identification of the Alarm Pheromone of Cowpea Aphid, and Comparison With Two Other Aphididae Species

Sandrine Mariella Bayendi Loudit et al. J Insect Sci. .

Abstract

In response to a predator attack, many Aphidinae species release an alarm pheromone, which induces dispersal behavior in other individuals within the colony. The major component of this pheromone is the sesquiterpene (E)-β-farnesene (Eβf), but variations occur between aphid species. In the present work, we collected, identified, and quantified the alarm pheromone of Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae), before quantifying the escape behavior induced in the neighboring individuals. We compared the semiochemistry and associated behavior of alarm signaling with two other aphid species: Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Aphis fabae Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Eβf was the only volatile found for each species. M. persicae produces a higher quantity of Eβf (8.39 ± 1.19 ng per individual) than A. craccivora (6.02 ± 0.82 ng per individual) and A. fabae (2.04 ± 0.33 ng per individual). Following exposure to natural doses of synthetic Eβf (50 ng and 500 ng), A. craccivora respond more strongly than the two other Aphidinae species with 78% of the individuals initiated alarm behavior for 500 ng of Eβf.

Keywords: (E)-β-farnesene; aphid; behavior; escape.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Effect of (E)-β-farnesene (Eβf) on escape response of different aphid species (n = 10 for each modality).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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