Chemical information from the fungus Amylostereum areolatum and host-foraging behaviour in the parasitoid Ibalia leucospoides

MARTÍNEZ, ANDRÉS SANTIAGO FERNANDEZ-AHREX, VALERIA CORLEY, JUAN CARLOS

PHYSIOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY (PRINT)

Año: 2006 vol. 31 p. 336 - 340

0307-6962

Parasitoids locate hosts using reliable and predictable cues such as smellsderived from host plants or from the hosts themselves. For host species that livewith mutualistic organisms, such as several wood boring insects, cues derived fromthe symbionts are likely to be exploited by specific parasitoids. Through a set of bioassays,the behaviour of the parasitoid Ibalia leucospoides Hochenwarth(Hymenoptera: Ibaliidae) is studied in response to the fungus Amylostereum areolatumBoidin (Basidiomycotina: Corticiaceae), a symbiont of its host, the wood waspSirex noctilio Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Siricidae). The results show that parasitoidsare attracted to the fungus when growing naturally within pine logs, and also whengrowing on an artificial medium. Fungal volatiles also elicit increased parasitoidactivity and may provide information on relative densities of hosts available forparasitization. It is speculated that the the chemical information derived from thehost fungal symbiont comprises reliable and detectable host-locating cues used byparasitoids to search for concealed hosts.