Biological activity and specificity of Miridae-induced plant
volatiles
Meritxell Pe
´
rez-Hedo
.
Jose Luis Rambla
.
Antonio Granell
.
Alberto Urbaneja
Received: 2 June 2017 / Accepted: 9 November 2017 / Published online: 23 November 2017
Ó International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) 2017
Abstract The ability of zoophytophagous predators
to produce defensive plant responses due to their
phytophagous behavior has been recently demon-
strated. In the case of tomatoes, the mirids Nesidio-
coris tenuis and Macrolophus pygmaeus are able to
attract or repel pests and/or natural enemies in
different ways. Nevertheless, the herbivore-induced
plant volatiles (HIPVs) released by the phytophagy of
both mirids, which are responsible for these behaviors,
are unknown. In this work, the HIPVs produced by the
plant feeding of N. tenuis and M. pygmaeus were
characterized. In addition, the role of each HIPV in the
repellence or attraction of two tomato pests, Bemisia
tabaci and Tuta absoluta, and of the natural enemy
Encarsia formosa was evaluated. Six green leaf
volatiles (GLVs) plus methyl salicylate and octyl
acetate clearly stood out as major differential peaks on
the chromatogram in a directed analysis. The six GLV
and methyl salicylate were repellent for B. tabaci and
attractive to E. formosa, whereas they showed no
effect on T. absoluta. Octyl acetate, which was
significantly present only in the M. pygmaeus-punc-
tured plants, was significantly attractive to T. absoluta,
repellent to E. formosa and indifferent to B. tabaci.
Unlike the remaining HIPVs, octyl acetate was
emitted directly by M. pygmaeus and not by the plant.
Our results showed that mirid herbivory could mod-
ulate the pest and natural plant enemy locations, since
tomato plants release a blend of volatiles in response to
this activity. These results could serve as a basis for
future development of plant protection.
Keywords Plant response Á Herbivore-induced plant
volatiles Á Mirid bugs
Introduction
Within the large insect family Miridae, members of
the Dicyphini tribe are generalist predators well-
known for their polyphagy on herbivorous pests such
as whiteflies, leafminers, aphids, thrips, mites and
lepidopterans (Barnadas et al. 1998; Urbaneja et al.
Handling Editor: Patrick De Clercq.
M. Pe
´
rez-Hedo (&) Á A. Urbaneja
Centro de Proteccio
´
n Vegetal y Biotecnologı
´
a, Unidad de
Entomologı
´
a UJI-IVIA, Instituto Valenciano de
Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Carretera de Moncada-
Na
´
quera Km. 4,5, Moncada, 46113 Valencia, Spain
e-mail: mperezh@ivia.es
J. L. Rambla Á A. Granell
Instituto de Biologı
´
a Molecular y Celular de Plantas
(IBMCP), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Cientı
´
ficas, Universidad Polite
´
cnica de Valencia, Camino
de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
M. Pe
´
rez-Hedo
Unitat Associada d’Entomologia UJI-IVIA, Departament
de Cie
`
ncies Agra
`
ries i del Medi Natural, Universitat
Jaume I, UJI, Campus del Riu Sec,
12071 Castello
´
De La Plana, Spain
123
BioControl (2018) 63:203–213
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-017-9854-4
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