Western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), is a highly invasive pest, infesting many species of plants worldwide, but few studies have investigated the visual and olfactory cues associated with their foraging behaviors. In this study, the distance traveled by WFT to locate yellow cards using only visual cues and visual cues plus olfactory cues was studied first. Subsequently, preferences for colors (white, red, green, purple, yellow and blue) and patterns (triangle, rectangle, circle and flower-shape) over short distances were assessed with free-choice tests. Finally, as yellow was the most efficient color to catch WFT under laboratory conditions, the yellow flower-shape was used as the visual cue, and preferences between visual and olfactory cues were evaluated with dual choice tests. The results showed that the capture rate of WFT by visual cues decreased as selection distance increased, however capture rate remained higher with the addition of olfactory cues. The flower shape attracted the greatest number of WFT among all shapes tested. The combination of visual cues and extracted volatiles from flowering Medicago sativa L. attracted higher numbers of WFT than to the olfactory cues alone, however these were similar to visual cues alone. The presence of olfactory cues resulted in higher residence times by WFT than did the absence of olfactory cues. These results show the relative effects of visual and olfactory cues on the orientation of WFT to hosts and highlight that visual cues dominate selection behavior at short distances. These findings can be used in the development of efficient trapping products and management strategies for thrips.

中文翻译：

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西方花蓟马（Frankliniella occidentalis）对短距离视觉和嗅觉提示的行为响应

西方花蓟马（WFT），西方富兰克氏菌（Pergande）是一种高度入侵的害虫，侵害了全世界许多植物，但很少有研究调查与觅食行为有关的视觉和嗅觉提示。在这项研究中，首先研究了WFT仅使用视觉线索和视觉线索以及嗅觉线索来定位黄牌的距离。随后，通过自由选择测试评估了短距离内的颜色（白色，红色，绿色，紫色，黄色和蓝色）和图案（三角形，矩形，圆形和花朵形状）的偏好。最后，由于黄色是在实验室条件下捕捉WFT的最有效颜色，因此将黄色花朵形状用作视觉提示，并通过双重选择测试评估了视觉提示和嗅觉提示之间的偏好。结果表明，视觉线索对WFT的捕获率随选择距离的增加而降低，但是随着嗅觉线索的添加，捕获率仍保持较高。在所有测试的形状中，花形吸引了最多的WFT。视觉提示和开花中提取的挥发物的结合紫花苜蓿吸引的WFT数量比单独的嗅觉提示要多，但是它们与单独的视觉提示相似。WFT的存在导致嗅觉提示比没有嗅觉提示的停留时间更长。这些结果显示了视觉和嗅觉线索对WFT朝向宿主的定向的相对影响，并突显了视觉线索在短距离内主导着选择行为。这些发现可用于开发有效的诱捕产品和蓟马管理策略。