Learning of plant volatiles by aphid parasitoids: Timing to learn

Abstract

One of the intriguing questions in insect-plant interaction is how parasitic wasps exploit host herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) to find a micro-host habitat (i.e. host-infested plants) that copes with the variation of HIPVs. Associative learning of host-related HIPVs is one of the solutions. Here, we reviewed parasitic wasps of aphids learning a specific blend of HIPVs. Their timing of learning was either (1) learning after emergence, (2) learning at the emergence, or (3) learning at larval and/or pre-pupal stages. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.