Vibrational communication of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys)

Abstract

Communication with substrate-borne vibrational signals is common in the family Pentatomidae, although this aspect of biology of the invasive pest Halyomorpha halys Stål remains unexplored so far. In the present study, the behaviour of single animals and pairs is observed on a bean plant and a loudspeaker membrane at the same time as recording substrate vibrations with a laser vibrometer, with the aim of adding to the existing description of mating behaviour. The male H. halys emit long, narrow-band vibrational signals spontaneously to which the nearby females reply with their own vibrational signals, triggering male searching. During this phase, the insects emit two (in females) or three song types (in males) in various combinations, until they come into physical contact, after which the final male song type, characterized by tremulation, is the only kind of vibratory emission. Females never start singing spontaneously and the mating sequence does not proceed if either partner is silent. Male signals do not attract males or females and so vibrations are unlikely to play a role in maintaining the aggregations that are characteristic of this species, whereas female signals show promise for developing behavioural manipulation methods against this invasive pest

Vibrational mating disruption of Empoasca vitis by natural or artificial disturbance noises

“…This was first tested on the psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, and it is based on a smart system that detects and identifies male calls and responds with timely and reliable synthetic replies . Recently, two alternative control strategies have been proposed for species in which the female spontaneously emits signals, such as the stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål) and the leafhopper Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) . In these cases, the female signal can attract males or interfere with mating communication by looping the playback into the substrate, respectively …”

Stink Bug Communication with Multimodal Signals Transmitted through Air and Substrate

“…[78], D. melacanthus [31], Dolycoris baccarum (L.) [78], E. meditabunda [30], Eurydema ornata (L.), E. oleracea (L.) [78], E. conspersus [29], E. heros [32], Graphosoma semipunctatum (Fabr. ), Graphosoma lineatum (L.) [78], Halyomorpha halys (Stål) [79], H. strictus [38], Holcostethus vernalis (Wolff) [78], M. histrionica [37], N. antennata [39], N. viridula [34], P. prasina, P. viridissima [35], Pentatoma rufipes (L.) [78], P. guildinii [32], P. lituratus [53], Staria lunata (Hahn) [78], T. custator accera, T. pallidovirens [28] and T. perditor [32].…”

“…Stink bug songs differ significantly by various temporal characteristics of combined pulses and pulse trains. Duration and repetition time parameters of the calling, courtship and rival song pulses and/or pulse trains have been recently reviewed in Pentatominae [19] and Asopinae [74], with a newly described song repertoire in the pentatomine species H. halys [79]. Temporal characteristics of copulatory songs, recorded in several stink bug species immediately after copulation, differ by minute-long sequences of 0.04 to 0.1 s short pulses, repeated readily every 0.1 to 0.8 s [19].…”

Pea leafminer Liriomyza huidobrensis (Diptera: Agromyzidae) uses vibrational duets for efficient sexual communication

“…Most insects using vibrational sex communication are plant‐dwelling species (Čokl & Virant‐Doberlet, ). Some of them, including leafhoppers, stink bugs, psyllids, and whiteflies, are agricultural pests (Kanmiya, ; Eben et al ., ; Polajnar et al ., ; Nieri & Mazzoni, ). Thus, recent studies have proposed the use of substrate‐borne signals as a non‐chemical approach for communication interference (Eriksson et al ., ; Polajnar et al ., ).…”