Recently we discovered an "innate recognition template" tuned to Gamma-Octalactone (GOL) which is an oviposition stimulant for Bactrocera dorsalis. As B. dorsalis has many host (around 300 hosts), is it that the template is overwritten with the volatile of the host plants that are present at a given point of time. As GOL is not present in its host fruits and is present only in mango and peaches, is there a possibility that the recognition template in the brain of insects acts as a "re-writeable CD".
would this observation be helpful for you:
H. armigera (Lep.Noct.) has at least 250 host plants, in the subtropics and tropics, and the attraction to host plants in the field crop is linked to a minimum of open flowers, for oviposition (in one chapter of my PhD thesis). In tomato field cropping we found first eggs when plants had around 8 open flowers, and peak flowering was peak oviposition time, even in parallel plots, flowering later. So, in the fields, in Portugal, there was first chick pea (March-April), followed by tomato (from May on), corn, tobacco, in this temporal order, and other available flowering hosts.
On the insect's antenna, there are different loci to dock with different specific volatiles, (as Barata and Lopes showed with Phoracantha semipunctata antenna). Some authors suggested there might have been also response to visible clues like certain green or yellow, attracting high flying H. armigera to particular fields. We have not tested visual attractivity. Please explain more in detail, what you understand by innate recognition templates?
Dear Dr. Melerrose,
Thank you for your observation madam. Innate recognition templates are a kind of memory that is passed on from parents to offsprings. These templates are triggered only if the insect come in contact with a particular cue the template is tuned to. Please find a publication below that may give you a better insight on innate recognition templates.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vivek_Kempraj/publication/259920127_Oviposition_Site-Selection_by_Bactrocera_dorsalis_Is_Mediated_through_an_Innate_Recognition_Template_Tuned_to_-Octalactone/links/02e7e52e758adbf723000000?origin=publication_detail
Article Oviposition Site-Selection by Bactrocera dorsalis Is Mediate...
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