A review of the chemical ecology of the Cerambycidae (Coleoptera)

Abstract

This review summarizes the literature related to the chemical ecology of the Cerambycidae and provides a brief overview of cerambycid biology, ecology, economic significance, and management. Beetles in the family Cerambycidae have assumed increasing prominence as pests of forest and shade trees, shrubs, and raw wood products, and as vectors of tree diseases. Exotic species associated with solid wood packing materials have been notable tree killers in North American urban and peri-urban forests. In forested ecosystems native species respond to disturbances such as fires and windstorms, and initiate the biodeterioration of woody tissue. Eggs are laid by females, on or through the bark surface of stem and branch tissue of moribund, recently killed or decomposing woody plants; larval cerambycids (roundheaded woodborers) typically feed in the phloem and later in the xylem. Females will also, in some cases, select living hosts, e.g. adult conifer and angiosperm trees, for oviposition. Research on the chemical ecology of over 70 species has revealed many examples of attractive kairomones (such as floral volatiles, smoke volatiles, trunk and leaf volatiles, and bark beetle pheromones), repellents and deterrents, oviposition stimulants, short-and long-range sex pheromones, and defensive substances. Emerging generalities are that attractants tend to be monoterpenoids and phenolic esters; oviposition stimulants are monoterpenoids and flavanoids; short-range sex pheromones are femaleproduced, methyl-branched cuticular hydrocarbons; and long-range sex pheromones are male-produced α-hydroxy ketones and (α,β)-diols ranging in length from 6 to 10 carbons. The latter compounds appear to originate from glands in the male thorax; putative defensive substances originate from metasternal secretory pores or mandibular glands. In one unusual case, a flightless, subterranean female that attacks sugar cane produces a sex pheromone that is derived from the amino acid isoleucine. With significantly more than 35,000 species of Cerambycidae worldwide, these generalities will be subject to change as more species are examined.

Application of Semiochemicals to Assess the Biodiversity of Subcortical Insects following an Ecosystem Disturbance in a Sub-boreal Forest

“…Cerambycid beetles have a general attraction to host kairomones and scolytid pheromones, although some short-range sexpheromones also have been isolated (Allison et al 2004). The presence of higher concentrations of plant volatiles present in the disturbed forest stands may have interrupted attraction of some beetle species to their respective baits or provided competing sources of attraction.…”

Antennal response of Prinobius myardi to synthetic tree volatiles

“…The mediation of plant volatiles in host location has been reported within Cerambycidae (Allison et al 2004;Hanks et al 2012). Sánchez-Osorio et al (2008) found limonene emission from Q. suber leaves to be higher in trees heavily colonized by C. welensii than neighboring non-colonized trees.…”

“…Host location by insects involves recognition of specific semiochemicals or, more often, specific mixtures of common plant volatiles (Allison et al 2004;Bruce et al 2005;Smart et al 2013). Quercus suber and Q. ilex, the main hosts of P. myardi, are considered strong monoterpene emitters, with four leaf chemotypes which are genetically based: a pinene type, a limonene type, and either an intermediate limonene/pinene type (in Q. suber) or a myrcene type (in Q. ilex) (Staudt et al 2008;Loreto et al 2014).…”

“…The importance of volatile semiochemicals in host selection by Cerambycidae species has mostly been studied for species attacking conifers (see Allison et al 2004); and relatively little is known about the role of such compounds in host location by wood borers infesting deciduous trees -especially Quercus species -though notable results have been obtained for Cerambyx welensii Küster (Torres-Vila et al 2012 andSánchez-Osorio et al 2015). Electroantennography (EAG) is an effective tool for measuring the total response of insect antennal receptor cells to olfactory stimuli (Bruce et al 2005;Gullan and Cranston 2014), and has already been applied to several cerambycid wood borers, including C. welensii and P. myardi (Sánchez-Osorio et al 2007 and2009), Saperda populnea L. (Chi et al 2011) and Batocera lineolata Chevrolat (Yang et al 2013).…”

Wood production, wood technology, and biotechnological impacts

“…In stems of conifers, for example, several monoterpenes such as α-pinene, β-myrcene, terpinolenes and β-pinene are attractive to a large number of conifer inhabiting beetles: an overview of the chemical ecology of bark beetles (Scolytidae) in this complex olfactory landscape is given by Byers (2004), of weevils (Curculionidae) by Schlyter (2004), of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) by Allison et al (2004), and of jewel beetles (Buprestidae) by Schütz et al (1999aSchütz et al ( , 2004. The influence of VOCs on insect behaviour is well studied in the case of Picea abies in the context of infestation with the bark beetle Ips typographus.…”