Importance of wild host plants for stem borer parasitoid diversity and control of parasitism in cereal cropping ecosystems in Kenya

Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

New Zealand Journal of Zoology

Publication Date

6-1-2009

Abstract

Evarcha culicivora Wesolowska & Jackson, a salticid from the Lake Victoria region of East Africa, is known to associate with Lantana camara L. (family Verbenaceae) and Ricinus communis L. (family Euphorbiaceae), two plant species that are common in the same habitat. E. culicivora is an unusual salticid because, by choosing blood-carrying mosquitoes as preferred prey, it feeds indirectly on vertebrate blood, and E. culicivora apparently also feeds on nectar taken from L. camara and R. communis. The experimental findings reported here show that the odour of these two plants is salient to E. culicivora. A Y-shaped olfactometer was used in the experiments, with plant odour on one side and the other side a control (no odour). Juveniles, adult males and adult females chose the odour of L. camara and R. communis more often than the control. © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2009.

Keywords

Nectar feeding, Olfaction, Salticidae, Spider-plant relationship

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