Visual and olfactory mediated cues play a major role in mate selection in different groups of insects. This study aimed to observe if there is any role of mate color (under different wavelengths) and/or cuticular hydrocarbons in mate selection of Aulacophora foveicollis. In this study, visual cues and olfactory cues showed a vital role for male A. foveicollis to find mates. Males preferred (81%) orange (similar body colour) coloured glass model than white (52%) and black (49%) under the visible spectrum; whereas under the UV spectrum white coloured model was more preferred (77%) than orange (60%) and black (48%) coloured. In contrast, unresponsive males were very high though white coloured model was still preferred (36.67%) than orange (24.44%) or black (22.22%) coloured under IR spectrum. It was also observed that body surface waxes can play alone an olfactory cue for male mate selection (attraction was 67%) from short distance. Under the visual spectrum, when both visual and olfactory cues were presented, attraction of males toward all orange (93%), white (74%), and black (71%) coloured glass bead model increased. Even under UV and IR spectra attraction increased when body surface extract of female was applied on the glass models though the preference was more towards white coloured model than orange as previous. Male A. foveicollis showed less preference towards black colour. These works provide evidence that both visuals and olfactory cues can act separately as well as synergistically to find mates for male insects. These findings will be helpful for sustainable pest management program.

中文翻译：

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雄性南瓜甲虫 Aulacophora foveicollis 配偶识别的视觉和嗅觉线索

视觉和嗅觉介导的线索在不同昆虫群的配偶选择中起着重要作用。本研究旨在观察配偶颜色（在不同波长下）和/或表皮碳氢化合物在 Aulacophora foveicollis 的配偶选择中是否有任何作用。在这项研究中，视觉线索和嗅觉线索显示雄性 A. foveicollis 寻找配偶的重要作用。在可见光谱下，男性更喜欢 (81%) 橙色（类似体色）彩色玻璃模型，而不是白色（52%）和黑色（49%）；而在紫外光谱下，白色（77%）比橙色（60%）和黑色（48%）更受欢迎。相比之下，尽管在红外光谱下，白色模型（36.67%）比橙色（24.44%）或黑色（22.22%）更受欢迎，但反应迟钝的雄性非常高。还观察到，体表蜡可以在短距离内单独作为雄性配偶选择的嗅觉线索（吸引力为 67%）。在视觉光谱下，当视觉和嗅觉提示同时出现时，男性对所有橙色 (93%)、白色 (74%) 和黑色 (71%) 彩色玻璃珠模型的吸引力增加。即使在 UV 和 IR 光谱下，当女性的体表提取物应用于玻璃模型时，吸引力也会增加，尽管像以前一样偏爱白色模型而不是橙色。雄性 A. foveicollis 对黑色表现出较少的偏好。这些工作提供的证据表明，视觉和嗅觉线索可以单独起作用，也可以协同作用为雄性昆虫寻找配偶。这些发现将有助于可持续虫害管理计划。