Detection of host habitat by parasitoids using cues associated with mycangial fungi of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae

Abstract Cues used by parasitoids to detect habitat of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), were investigated by observing parasitoid attraction to logs infested with D. ponderosae, logs inoculated with one or both of the symbiotic fungi of D. ponderosae (Grosmannia clavigera (Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W. Davidson) Zipfel, Z.W. de Beer & M.J. Wingf. (Ophiostomataceae) and Ophiostoma montium (Rumbold) Arx (Ophiostomataceae)), logs containing no beetles or fungi, or empty screen cylinders. Captures of Heydenia unica Cook and Davis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and Rhopalicus pulchripennis (Crawford) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) on logs with both G. clavigera and O. montium were greater than those from control treatments. These results suggest that characteristics of tree tissues simultaneously colonized by the two symbiotic fungi facilitate a detectable change in the volatile compounds released from D. ponderosae-attacked trees that may be used by parasitoids to locate hosts.