Interaction between visual and olfactory stimuli during host-finding by leafhopper,Dalbulus maidis (Homoptera: Cicadellidae).

Virtually nothing is known about the role plant volatiles play in host-finding by Homoptera in the Suborder Auchenorrhyncha. In laboratory bioassays, we examined the influence of plant volatiles on orientation and postcontact behaviors of the leafhopper,Dalbulus maidis, and determined the relationship between visual and olfactory stimuli during host-finding. When compared to the number of contacts made with reflected green light in the presence of a hexane control,D. maidis made more contacts when exposed to volatile extracts from its preferred host, maize; a similar number of contacts when exposed to volatiles from a marginal host, gamagrass; and fewer contacts when exposed to volatiles from a nonhost, sorghum. There was no difference between males and females in the number of contacts made with green light when exposed to maize volatiles compared to hexane alone. More contacts were made with green light than with white light of similar intensity, both in the presence and in the absence of olfactory stimuli; however, maize volatiles acted as a Synergist by increasing the number of contacts leafhoppers made with green light. After contacting the green light, exposure of maize volatiles significantly increased, relative to hexane, the amount of stationary time, but did not influence the amount of time spent moving, the distance traveled, or the speed while moving when within the boundaries of the green light. This study provides the first evidence for an interaction between visual and olfactory stimuli during host-finding for a leafhopper and also for olfactory mediation of postcontact behaviors not associated with feeding.