A learning-related variation in electroantennogram responses of a parasitic wasp |
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Authors: | LOUISE E M VET RUURD DE JONG WILANT A VAN GIESSEN J H VISSER† |
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Institution: | Department of Entomology, Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands;†Research Institute for Plant Protection, Wageningen, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT Odour responses of parasitic insects, in search of their hosts, can change due to experience. Leptopilina heterotoma (Thomson) (Hymenoptera; Eucoilidae), a parasitic wasp of drosophilid larvae, is known to alter its preference for odours emanating from host food substrates through learning. These kinds of behavioural modifications in insects are assumed to be the result of complex processes in the brain. The results presented in this report, however, suggest that this learning-related behavioural variation is not restricted to brain processes but that it involves changes in sensitivity of olfactory receptor neurones. |
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Keywords: | Leptopilina heterotoma parasitoid host substrate odour electroantennogram recording olfaction learning |
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