Evaluation of hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus De Geer (Diptera: Syrphidae) oviposition behaviour toward aphid-infested plants using a leaf disc system.

Several aphidophagous beneficials such as parasitoids and predators are known to respond positively to aphid infested plants. Semiochemicals from the latter association play an important role in the foraging of predators in a tritrophic approach. In this work, three host plants infested with green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer were used to study the effect of prey density and aphid colony location on plant toward Episyrphus balteatus female. Their reproductive behaviour and efficiency (in terms of fecundity) were observed in net cages. Three kinds of experiments were performed using a disc leaf on agar diet in small Petri dishes under different conditions: 1) leaf disc of broad bean (Vicia faba) were infested with different aphid prey densities, 2) three host plants (Vicia faba, Solanum tuberosum, Solanum nigrum) infested with 3 different aphid prey densities and 3) three different heights of aphid colony location on V. faba plant infested with constant aphid density were also tested using leaf disc system. Aphid-free leaf discs were also used as control for predator behaviour observations. Oviposition rates of hoverfly on leaf disc system vary significantly with prey aphid densities. The means of eggs per laying were 0.9, 5.3, and 31.2 for 0, 10 and 100 aphid densities respectively. E. balteatus females were also able to evaluate and adjust oviposition rates according to different aphid prey densities/host plant. The 5 and 20 cm stakes were the most attractive heights of aphid colony location for the hoverfly oviposition. The means of eggs per laying were 16.7, 18.5 and 5.8 for 5, 20 and 40cm heights respectively. Our leaf disc system was found to be a practical and efficient way to assess chemical cues from aphids according to different conditions on the hoverfly reproductive behaviour.