Random movement pattern of fed and unfed adult Colorado potato beetles in bare‐ground habitat

Abstract

1 Although the successful management of the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) depends on the prevention of its dispersal, its walking pattern in the landscape remains poorly understood. In the present study, post-diapause, early summer, late summer and colony adult beetles, both fed and unfed before release, were tracked with a harmonic radar to establish their walking movement pattern in a bare-ground field. 2 The random walk model successfully described the dispersal of all beetle types, whether fed or unfed. 3 The diverse life history of this species was manifested by an increased distance travelled and deviations of individual paths from the random model. Starved postdiapause beetles travelled furthest and individual paths deviating from random were both local and directed, probably aiming to maximize opportunities for host colonization. Starved early summer beetles also travelled further than fed beetles but relied more on random movement to disperse in the habitat. Starving had little impact on the distance travelled or the path deviations of late summer beetles that are searching for overwintering site rather than hosts. 4 The increased displacement of starving beetles over fed beetles corresponded with an increased walking step and index of straightness. 5 The impact of starvation on travel distance was greater than expected from laboratory tests. 6 In conclusion, the results obtained in the present study suggest a random walking pattern to search arable land until host volatile or visual impulses trigger a more directed walk or flight.

Effectiveness of Glues for Harmonic Radar Tag Attachment onHalyomorpha halys(Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and Their Impact on Adult Survivorship and Mobility

“…For example, Roland et al (1996) used a 0.4-mg tag to track the 45Ð 60 mg parasitic ßy, Patelloa pachypyga (Aldrich & Webber) (Diptera: Tachinidae) with a RECCO portable radar system. Portable and stationary harmonic radar systems have been used to track movements of a range of insect species including the following: honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) (Riley et al 1996); forest tent caterpillar moth, Malacosoma disstria Hü bner (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), and its parasitic tachinid ßy, P. pachypyga (Roland et al 1996); Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) (Williams et al 2004 (Boiteau et al 2011b); and Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) (Boiteau et al 2011b, Gui et al 2012.…”

Evaluating the efficacy of two insect detection methods with Riptortus pedestris (Hemiptera: Alydidae): portable harmonic radar system and fluorescent marking system

“…In this study, the sample retrieval was more difficult in the bean field because bean plants created obstacles for line of visual detection. In addition, although the portable harmonic radar system can detect tagged objects behind plant materials, the detection efficacy can decrease in the presence of obstacles, which resulted in lower detection rate in the bean field . Lastly, the overall detection rate was significantly lower during day than at night.…”

Contribution of habitat type to residency and dispersal choices by overwintered and summer adult Colorado potato beetles

“…There are indications that overwintered beetles disperse more readily than summer beetles (Boiteau et al., ), but there are also contradictory observations by Gui et al. (), for example, reporting that overwintered beetles are more sedentary than summer beetles. Szendrei et al.…”

“…This is not to say that the feeding status of CPB does not have an impact on its dispersal. Our study quantified and contrasted the proportion of the population that had dispersed out of different habitats after 24 and 96 h, whereas most others, often flight mill studies, tended to measure the frequency, duration, and distance of dispersal bouts (Ferro et al, 1991(Ferro et al, , 1999Gui et al, 2012) within a period of a few hours. The CPB feeding status could therefore have affected the dispersal pattern of the CPB within the various habitats within 24 or 96 h but did not explain the generally lower residency in nonhost compared with host habitats.…”

“…The dispersal response itself, however, can vary. In the case of the CPB, laboratory tests (Gui & Boiteau, ) indicated no change in the walking response to most starvation periods tested, but field tests (Gui et al., ) indicated increased displacement compared with fed beetles.…”