The Experimental Study of the Chemotactic Basis of Host Specificity in Phytophagous Insects

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The high degree of host specificity of many phytophagous insects is a commonplace, yet remarkable phenomenon. Nevertheless it has been relatively neglected as a field for experimental study.The first beginning was made about 50 years ago when Grevillius (1905) found that the larvae of the browntail mothEuproctis chrysorrhoea(L.) which feeds on the chick weed,Stellaria, could be induced to feed on other plants by smearing the leaves with a paste containing tannin which is a constituent of chick weed. It is un1ikely that this work was highly critical with respect to the chemical purity of the test preparations, yet the basic principle inherent in all experimentation in this field was employed. That is to say, a relatively isolated chemical constituent of the host plant together with some ingestible substrate other than the host plant tissue was offered to the insects. Obviously, the induction of feeding indicated that the test material contains some substance that stimulates the appetite of the insect.