UC Riverside

A physical refuge from the parasitoid, Aphytis melinus, is provided to the California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii, by the interior bark substrates of citrus trees, even though scale have lower fitness on bark in the absence of A. melinus. How bark-reared scale escape parasitism was unclear because A. melinus searches the interior of trees as effectively as the exterior. Host identification in A. melinus is mediated by a kairomone, O-caffeoyltyrosine, in scale covers. O-caffeoyltyrosine concentration varies with scale age and rearing conditions. We hypothesized that the reduced acceptance of bark-reared scale may be due, in part, to reduced quantities of O-caffeoyltyrosine in their covers. We reared scales on bark, leaves, and fruit of lemon and orange trees in the field at monthly intervals then collected the scales and measured them. We bioassayed covers for their acceptability to A. melinus in the laboratory then determined their O-caffeoyltyrosine content. Even after adjusting for the differences in scale body size, O-caffeoyltyrosine content in bark-reared scale covers was 45 – 85% less than that in covers of leaf- or fruit-reared scales, depending upon cultivar and rearing date. Covers of bark-reared scales were selected for probing only 40 – 45% of the time when compared to leaf-reared scales. Covers with the relatively highest levels of O-caffeoyltyrosine were most likely to be selected for probing. We conclude that part of the mechanism by which California red scale on bark avoids discovery is through reduced O-caffeoyltyrosine content in their covers. This reduction is probably a consequence of the reduced nutritional quality of bark as a substrate for scale survival and growth