Olfactory responses of the omnivorous generalist predator Dicyphus hesperus to plant and prey odours

Responses of female Dicyphus hesperus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae) to the odours of plants and prey were tested in the laboratory using a Y-tube olfactometer. Females were attracted to the odour of tomato leaves infested with nymphs of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum West-wood (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), compared to uninfested leaves. No such attraction occurred to tomato leaves infested with two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae). When females were simultaneously presented with the odours of whitefly and mite-infested leaves, no preference for either odour was recorded. Similarly, females were attracted to the odour of pepper leaves infested with green peach aphids [Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Homoptera: Aphididae)] compared to uninfested leaves, but were not attracted to the odour of pepper leaves infested with eggs of cabbage loopers, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). When aphid-infested and looper-egg-infested pepper leaves were presented simultaneously, no preference for either odour was detected. The results are discussed as they relate to the evolution of infochemical use in generalist omnivorous predators.