| Dötterl, S; Jürgens, A; Seifert, K; Laube, T; Weißbecker, B; Schütz, S: Nursery pollination by a moth in Silene latifolia: the role of odours in eliciting antennal and behavioural responses, New Phytologist, 169, 707-718 (2006), doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01509.x | |
| Abstract: • Since the 1970s it has been known that the nursery pollinator Hadena bicruris is attracted to the flowers of its most important host plant, Silene latifolia , by their scent. Here we identified important compounds for attraction of this noctuid moth. • Gas chromatographic and electroantennographic methods were used to detect compounds eliciting signals in the antennae of the moth. Electrophysiologically active compounds were tested in wind-tunnel bioassays to foraging naïve moths, and the attractivity of these compounds was compared with that to the natural scent of whole S. latifolia flowers. • The antennae of moths detected substances of several classes. Phenylacetaldehyde elicited the strongest signals in the antennae, but lilac aldehydes were the most attractive compounds in wind-tunnel bioassays and attracted 90% of the moths tested, as did the scent of single flowers. • Our results show that the most common and abundant floral scent compounds in S. latifolia , lilac aldehydes, attracted most of the moths tested, indicating a specific adaptation of H. bicruris to its host plant. |
