Green-colored paperboard enhances the Asian longhorned beetle response to host plant odor cues

The Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) attacks apparently healthy trees, and more effective tools for surveying and monitoring them are needed. To better understand how the beetle recognizes and locates its hosts, we compared adult feeding on and orientation to cut branches of Acer negundo (a preferred host), Salix matsudana, Ailanthus altissima and Pinus bungeana, and found that adults preferred Acer negundo to others. We then evaluated whether color cues enhanced host (A. negundo) odor attractiveness for A. glabripennis. We assessed preference of adult A. glabripennis for colors that mimicked the bark of cut branches and found that adults were significantly attracted by forest green. We examined the effect of plant odors alone and found no significant difference among tested plants; however, the combination of forest green and A. negundo odors was more attractive to adults than combinations of other colors with A. altissima and P. bungeana odors. Finally, we studied the interaction between color and odor to determine their potential influence on A. glabripennis behavior. We found that combinations of cues that included forest green and host odor were more attractive to adults than others, but these preference of adults for forest green was disrupted by A. altissima odors.

Automated summary

The study found that the Asian longhorned beetle prefers Acer negundo as its host tree and is more attracted to forest green color. Plant odors alone did not significantly affect the behavior of the adults, but the combination of color and Acer negundo odor proved to be more attractive to them.