Original paper
Pieris rapae larvae facilitate the oviposition of Plutella xylostella by spinning silk on waxy host plants
Zhu, Jing-Yun; Xiang, Zhong-Wen; Yu, Wen-Yuan; Wang, Wen-Wen; Liu, Tong-Xian; Zhang, Shi-Ze
Entomologia Generalis Volume 42 Number 4 (2022), p. 641 - 648
published: Jul 11, 2022
published online: Mar 31, 2022
manuscript accepted: Jan 18, 2022
manuscript revision received: Jan 5, 2022
manuscript revision requested: Oct 7, 2021
manuscript received: Jun 19, 2021
DOI: 10.1127/entomologia/2022/1379
ArtNo. ESP146004204015, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), and Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), are two of the most destructive pests of cruciferous vegetables, and they are known to occur on the same plant simultaneously. Previous studies have shown that compared to healthy cabbage plants, cabbage plants damaged by P. rapae larvae are more attractive to P. xylostella for oviposition. However, to date, the reason for this is still unclear. We hypothesized that the silk vomited by P. rapae larvae are helpful to the oviposition of P. xylostella adults. In the present study, we found that P. xylostella laid more eggs on waxy plants pre-infested by P. rapae larvae, namely cabbage (Brassica oleracea) and Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra), than on healthy plants, and they laid most of the eggs on the silk produced by P. rapae larvae. However, in the waxless edible rape (Brassica campestris), P. xylostella did not show a significant preference for oviposition between healthy leaves and those pre-infested with P. rapae larvae. Furthermore, in Chinese kale or cabbage plants pre-infested by P. rapae larvae, the number of P. xylostella eggs on the leaves without silk was significantly lower than that on the leaves with silk, and more P. xylostella eggs were laid on the larval silk than on the blank area of their leaves. The present study highlighted the important role of the silk of lepidopterous larvae in P. xylostella oviposition on waxy host plants. Our findings provided new insights into plant-insect interactions.
Keywords
Diamondback moth • DBM • Small cabbage white butterfly • Chinese kale • cabbage • edible rape • plant-insect interplay