WITHIN-POPULATION AND BETWEEN-POPULATION VARIATION IN HOST-PLANT PREFERENCE AND SPECIFICITY IN AUSTRALIAN HELICOVERPA-ARMIGERA (HUBNER) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)
Mfa. Jallow et Mp. Zalucki, WITHIN-POPULATION AND BETWEEN-POPULATION VARIATION IN HOST-PLANT PREFERENCE AND SPECIFICITY IN AUSTRALIAN HELICOVERPA-ARMIGERA (HUBNER) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE), Australian journal of zoology, 44(5), 1996, pp. 503-519
Using a tethered-insect technique, we investigated within- and between
-population variation in the post-alighting host-plant preference and
specificity of female Helicoverpa armigera from four populations. No s
ignificant difference occurred among populations in host-plant prefere
nce. Differences in host-plant preference existed among female moths w
ithin a population, and these differences are under genetic control an
d heritable. Most females ranked maize, sorghum and tobacco highest, f
ollowed by cotton varieties DP90 and HG660. The least-preferred plants
were cowpea and lucerne. A few females (20%) differed from this gener
al pattern and among each other, and reversed the rank order of host p
lants. Within a population, individual female moths differed in their
host-plant specificity, with some individuals being more generalist th
an others. Similarly, significant differences occurred in host-plant s
pecificity among populations. The relevance of these findings are disc
ussed in relation to polyphagy in H. armigera.