title: Misleading the Colorado potato beetle with an odor blend.
abstract: Walking tracks of Colorado potato beetles,Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, were recorded on a locomotion-compensator in response to wind, odors of host plantsSolanum tuberosum L. and nonhost plantsLycopersicon hirsutum f.glabratum C.H. Mull, and to mixtures of these plant species. Host-plant odor induced positive anemotactic responses in starved females, whereas odor of the nonhostL. hirsutum was neither repellent nor attractive. The attractiveness of host-plant odor, however, was neutralized in the odor blend of plant species. Masking the attractive host-plant odor will hinder the beetle's searching for host-plant patches, and this principle may be exploited in pest control by mixed cropping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Agricultural University, P.O. Box 8031, 6700, EH Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thiery
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Visser