Color preference of the spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a significant invasive pest in soft-skin fruits and berries in Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Many herbivorous insects use multiple cues for host selection, particularly olfactory and visual stimuli. The visual system of closely-related Drosophila melanogaster is well-documented, expressing strong sensitivity to short-wavelength colors (ultraviolet to green) and only limited sensitivity to long-wavelength colors (red to infrared). Our results suggest that D. suzukii have limited ability to distinguish red consistent with visual sensitivity range within the melanogaster subgroup. We propose that color contrast rather than color appearance may be of greater importance in orientation and attraction. We propose that differences in reflectance between light wavelengths important for color opponency are key to color discrimination to provide color contrast between foreground and background, as occurs between fruit and foliage, during host-finding.

Role of fruit characters and colour on host selection of boreal fruits and berries by Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

“…Among the fruits tested, fruit sugar content or sweetness (brix) was positively correlated with cyan (525 nm) to orange (600 nm), which is well within the visual range of Drosophila species (Hernández de Salomon and Spatz 1983). In a separate study, we found that the visual range of D. suzukii is consistent with that of D. melanogaster (Little et al 2019). Fruit firmness (gf/mm 2 ) is positively correlated with green (560 nm) to deep red (700 nm) and thus is also detectable within the visual range of Drosophila.…”

The use of light spectrum blocking films to reduce populations of Drosophila suzukii Matsumura in fruit crops

“…To reveal spectral sensitivity flies chose between a dark stimulus and a set waveband of light (Table 3 , 340 to 660 nm)with perceptible light triggering the animals innate phototactic approach behaviour 18 . D. suzukii females preferentially approached light in the near-UV range (340, 365, 405 nm) in common with D. melonagastor 30 that possess UV-sensitive photoreceptor R7p and R7y and true colour vision with photoreceptor rhodopsins Rh3 and Rh4 31 – 33 . However, D. suzukii females did not preferentially approach light in the 430–565 nm range as would be predicted possessing similar blue-green sensitive RX and RY photoreceptors as D. melonagastor but rather show preferences for orange and red light (617 and 660 nm), raising the potential for divergence in spectral sensitivities between species (Fig.…”

The diverging evolutionary history of opsin genes in Diptera

“…We found that the agricultural pest Drosophila suzukii is characterized by an increased selective pressure affecting Rh6 and Rh7 (Figure 3). These changes are interesting from an applicative point of view, as they may be linked to the peculiar circadian activity (Hansen et al 2019), colour recognition pattern (Little et al 2019), and even gustatory preferences(Crava et al 2016; Leung et al 2020) deriving from the evolution of this species’ new ecological lifestyle. In Anopheles the function of opsins is less understood when compared to Drosophila (Montell & Zwiebel 2016).…”