Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:06:29.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Role of Host Selection in the Ecology of Phytophagous Insects1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

A. J. Thorsteinson
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Extract

It is a commonplace entomological observation that each phytophagous insect is restricted in its feeding to a small fraction only of the plant species that grow in any area. This phenomenon is generally referred to as “host selection”. The ecological significance of host plant selection among insects is manifest principally in an effect on the geographical distribution of insect species since phytophagous insects can occur only where suitable host plants are available.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1953

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brues, C. T. 1940. Food preferences of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Psyche. 57: 3843.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chauvin, R. 1945. Premiers essais de purification de la substance qui attire le doryphore vers les feuilles de pomme de terre. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 221: 713714.Google Scholar
Chin, Chun-Teh. 1950. Studies on the physiological relations between the larvae of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) and some solanaceous plants. H. Veenman & Zonen. Wageningen, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Kuhn, R. and Gauhe, Adeline. 1947. Uber die Bedeutung des Demissins für die Resistenz von Solanum demissum gegen die Larven des Kartoffelkäfers. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung. 2b: 407409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIndoo, N. E. 1935. The relative attractiveness of certain solanaceous plants to the Colorado potato beetle. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 37: 3642.Google Scholar
Raucourt, M. and Trouvelot, B.. 1936. Les principes constituants de la pomme de terre et le doryphore. Ann. Epiphyt. 2: 5198.Google Scholar
Thorsteinson, A. J. 1953. The chemotactic responses that determine host specificity in an oligophagous insect (Plutella macalipennis (Curt.) Lepidoptera). Can. J. Zool. 31: 5272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verschaffelt, E. 1910. The cause determining the selection of food in some herbivorous insects. Proc: Acad. Sci. Amsterdam. 13: 536542.Google Scholar