Chemically-Mediated Mate Location and Recognition in Longhorned Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Larvae of many cerambycid species require woody host plants that are stressed or weakened in some way. Such hosts represent an ephemeral and unpredictable resource, with prime subcortical tissues being rapidly degraded by a variety of wood-feeding insects. Thus, the first larvae to colonize a host will have access to the best nutrition, selecting for rapid host location and mate recognition strategies by the adults. In this study, I test the hypothesis that adult longhorned beetles are attracted to volatile compounds emanating from larval host plants. Once on the larval host, the mating strategy is scramble and interference competition among males for females. I also find that large body size confers a mating advantage in aggressive competition among male cerambycid beetles. I test the hypothesis that contact pheromones mediate mate recognition in four species of longhorned beetles, Neoclytus mucronatus mucronatus (F.), Megacyllene caryae (Gahan), Megacyllene robiniae (Forster), and Plectrodera scalator (F.). In addition, I identify the female-produced contact pheromone of Xylotrechus colonus F, M. robiniae, and M. caryae. I then explore the use of synthetic hydrocarbons in mark-recapture studies. In the final chapter, I study the genetic structure of the Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky, an invasive cerambycid native to China and Korea.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Entomology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Ginzel, Matthew David

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hanks, Lawrence M.

• Biology, Entomology

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3101846

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86446