Eb. Acar et al., Olfactory behavior of convergent lady beetles (Coleoptera : Coccinellidae)to alarm pheromone of green peach aphid (Hemiptera : Aphididae), CAN ENTOMOL, 133(3), 2001, pp. 389-397
A previous investigation from our laboratory showed that the odor of live g
reen peach aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), highly attracts the convergent
lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens Guerin-Meneville. In this study, we isol
ated the odor and identified it as (E)-beta -farnesene (an aphid alarm pher
omone) using gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. The olfactory response
of the convergent lady beetle to (E)-beta -farnesene was investigated usin
g an eight-arm air-flow olfactometer and tracing the pathways of the lady b
eetles. The results clearly indicate that H. convergens can perceive and or
ient to (E)-beta -farnesene released by green peach aphids. These findings
suggest that this: species of lady beetle has evolved a sensory system for
detecting the green peach aphid alarm pheromone as a means of finding its p
rey.