The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.) uses two different sensory modalities to evaluate the suitability of potential oviposition sites

Abstract

An ovipositing insect evaluates the benefits and risks associated with the selection of an oviposition site for optimizing the fitness and survival of its offspring. The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), uses beehives as an oviposition site. During egg-laying, the gravid wax moth confronts two kinds of risks, namely, bees and conspecific larvae. While bees are known to attack the moth’s offspring and remove them from the hive, the conspecific larvae compete for resources with the new offspring. To date, little is known about the mechanisms involved in the assessment of oviposition site by the greater wax moth, G. mellonella (L.). Here, we demonstrate that the wax moth uses two different sensory modalities to detect risks to its offspring in the hives of Apis cerena. Bees appear to be detected by the contact-chemoreception system of the gravid wax moth, while detection of conspecifics relies on the olfactory system. Hence, our findings suggest that two different sensory modalities are used to detect two different risks to the offspring and that the selection of oviposition sites by G. mellonella (L.) relies on the integration of inputs from both the olfactory and contact-chemoreception systems.