I'm planning to research on Pochazia shantungensis(Hemiptera: Ricaniidae),one of the polyphagous insects.
So, I collected the eggs, and have been rearing the nymphs with sunflower and bean. I thought they get the enough nutrients, but that they don't seem to grow at their usual rate.
I wonder, do polyphagous insects prefer specific plants and survive only a single host? or do they prefer to feed on various types of host for some reason like nutrients?
I want to investigate what host they really prefer for efficent pest control, but in recent study, it is said that there are more than 30 host they specially prefer.
Whether specific plants is preferred by polyphagous insects is likely species-specific. The original host plants in which you obtained the eggs may have influence on the performance of insects when you reared them. Host adaptation may involve in a polyphagous species because of genetic basis and plastic responses (e.g. expressed metabolic enzymes). Therefore, changes of host plants may lead to trade-offs in fitness.
Oh, I understood what you meant. Well, the reason why I chose sunflower and bean is, I find it hard to rear them in woody plant in laboratory. I thought there is a possibility that females chose it (woody plants, not an annual plant) because they have to overwinter as an egg. I agree that females tend to select I'm not really sure about preference for proper food of larvae, because they have high mobility compared to other insects.(capable of walking and jumping)
Plant feeder insects show preference over specific plant or their their developmental stage, however they also feed on some other plants. the success of rearing insects in the laboratory on host plants required proper maintenance conditions to be followed.
regards
Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan
Maybe I do not understand your answer. But I am not sure the problem is the plant species as much as it is the sugar content and health of the plants. If they do not get enough light sucking insects do poorly. So, I wonder if your plants are fresh alive plants in full light. Some plants, such as sunflower need a lot more light than others.
If Hemiptera have been on the plants too long they can make the plants less (or occasionally more) suitable.
The phytophagous insects exhibit a wide variety of feeding specialization, since monophagy (i.e., to consume plant tissues from a single botanical species) to polyphagy (i.e., to consume plant tissues from different botanical families). However, many species with a widespread diet through its geographic distribution area tend to behave as local specialists, and different hypothesis have been proposed to explain that. On the other hand, the set of plants that are effectively consumed by an insect in a habitat tends to be a subset of all potential hostplants growing in this place.
I think it would be worth reading two classic references on this subject, namely: Smiley, JT. 1978. Plant chemistry and the evolution of host specificity: new evidence from Heliconius and Passiflora. Science 201: 745-7; and Fox, LR & Morrow, PA. 1981. Specialization: species property or local phenomenon? Science 211: 887-93.
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