Abstract
The effect of physiological state (hunger) and experience on the responsiveness of the aphid parasitoid, Lysiphlebus testaceipes(Cresson), to clean and honeydew-contaminated host plants was investigated in laboratory bioassays. Both fed and unfed parasitoids spent significantly longer examining honeydew-contaminated plants compared to uncontaminated controls, but the presence of honeydew did not influence attack latency (i.e., the speed with which naive parasitoids found and attacked hosts). Hunger, however, had a significant negative effect on attack latency, presumably as a result of a physiologically based shift from host- to food-location behavior in starved parasitoids. The parasitoid 's response to clean plants was significantly increased as a result of classical conditioning procedures, whereas the response to honeydew-contaminated plants was not.
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Grasswitz, T.R., Paine, T.D. Influence of physiological state and experience on the responsiveness ofLysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson) (hymenoptera: aphidiidae) to aphid honeydew and to host plants. J Insect Behav 6, 511–528 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049529
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049529