Orientation of Sorghum Midge, Stenodiplosis sorghicola, Females (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) to Color and Host-Odor Stimuli

Sorghum midge, Stenodiplosis sorghicola (Coquillett), is one ofthe most important pests of grain sorghum worldwide. Sorghum midge adultsemerge in the morning, mate at or near the site of emergence, and then thefemales proceed in search of sorghum crop at flowering for oviposition, andsome visual and odor stimuli play an important role in host finding and ovipositionprocess. We used a glass apparatus with two (Y-tube) arms to studythe orientation of sorghum midge females to visual and odor stimuli underlaboratory conditions. Most sorghum midge females were attracted to yellow(30%), followed by green (26%), red (23%), and blue (10%). Sorghum midgefemales responded more quickly to yellow, followed by red, green, and blue.However, under dual-choice conditions, differences in numbers of sorghummidge females attracted to yellow versus green, red versus blue, and blueversus green were not significant. More sorghum midge females were attractedto sorghum panicle odors plus red (47%) or yellow (40%) colors than to hostodors alone (31%). Information on the color preference of sorghum midge femalescould be exploited for developing suitable traps to monitor its abundancein combination with kairomones or pheromones

H C Sharma, B A Franzmann, 'Orientation of Sorghum Midge, Stenodiplosis sorghicola, Females (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) to Color and Host-Odor Stimuli', Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology, vol. 18(4), pp.237-248, South Carolina Entomological Society, 2013