Host-Finding Behavior of the Rice Bug, Leptocorisa chinensis DALLAS (Hemiptera : Coreidae), with Special Reference to Diel Patterns of Aggregation and Feeding on Rice Plant

Abstract

Diel pattern of the aggregation on rice plants by the rice bug, Leptocorisa chinensis DALLAS, was evaluated by counting and sweeping methods in the paddy field and by filed cage experiment to elucidate its host-finding behavior. Adult bugs were observed to feed in daytime and fly actively after sunset. Flight tunnel experiments in daytime showed their upwind orientation to the oduor source of rice plants, though the response was not so high as to explain the aggregation of the rice bug on the rice plant in the flowering stage. It is postulated that the rice bug can detect the odour of rice plants in close to the rice field, but the aggregation on the ears of rice plants seemed to be caused mostly by the arresting effect of the ears in the flowering stage.