BACKGROUND Biting habit of mosquitoes plays an important role in the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquitoes use a set of elaborate sensory modalities to find their preferred hosts by exploiting cues emanating from a nearby host. It has been suggested that the chemical profile of skin can provide further support for anthropophilic mosquito species to find their suitable hosts. This ...

Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) detects and uses many volatiles for its survival. Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) is detected in adults by a special class of olfactory receptor neurons, expressing the gustatory receptor Gr21a. The behavioral responses to CO(2) were investigated in a four-field olfactometer bioassay that is new for Drosophila. We determined (1) whether the sensitivity of this response c...

Three cryptic species in the Euwallacea fornicatus species complex were reared in laboratory colonies and investigated for the presence of pheromones. Collections of volatiles from combinations of diet, fungus, beetles, and galleries from polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea sp. #1) revealed the presence of 2-heneicosanone and 2-tricosanone only in the presence of beetles, regardless of sex....

Parasitoids utilize various sugar resources in nature, and rely on odor cues from plants to locate their food and hosts. However, lack of sugar in the diet may negatively impact odor reception in parasitoids, thus affecting foraging efficiency. We used Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a larval endoparasitoid of Heliothis virescens (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), as a mo...

Abstract Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are generalist egg parasitoids widely used as biological control agents, yet with limited efficacy against Tuta absoluta (Meyrick; Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a key pest of tomato. Olfactory cues related to the host-plant complex influence searching behavior in parasitoids. Studies have shown that female can learn odor affecting their p...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from uninfested and infested broccoli plant samples with green peach aphid Myzus persicae were investigated by headspace solid microextraction (HS-SPME) combined gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Overall, 25 identified in plants. The HS-SPME GC-MS analysis of the volatiles described differences between samples. Based on peak area analysis, VOCs sign...