Chemoecology of Cyclocephaline Beetles – CHEMOCYCLO

Chemoecology of Cyclocephaline Beetles [CHEMOCYCLO]

Cyclocephaline beetles (Melolonthidae, Dynastinae, Cyclocephalini) are ubiquitous and diverse (> 500 spp.) Neotropical flower-visiting insects involved in the pollination of ca. 900 species across at least seven families of angiosperms. Phytophagous species of cyclocephaline beetles are also documented as agricultural pests, both as adults (folivorous/florivorous) and larvae (rhizophagous).
This multidisciplinary project, combining chemical and behavioural ecology, electrophysiology, microanatomy, and molecular biology, aims to study the chemical communication of cyclocephaline beetles within a well-defined phylogenetic framework to understand the high chemical diversity and its evolutionary history through a comparative approach of the behavioural responses of phytophagous (i.e. pest) and anthophilous (i.e. pollinating) species to semiochemicals involved in intraspecific aggregation and/or sexual communication. The specific aims of this research proposal are:
i) to investigate the chemistry of putative pheromones of cyclocephaline beetles (never before identified) among phytophagous and anthophilous species,
ii) to quantify the efficiency and specificity of attraction of simple chemical blends to phytophagous and anthophilous species,
iii) to perform an original comparative analysis between the morphological diversity of antennal olfactory sensillae types and the diversity of genes coding for olfactory receptors, and
iv) to reconstruct the evolutionary history of chemical communication in cyclocephaline beetles based on the first molecular phylogeny of the tribe Cyclocephalini.
The environmental impact of this proposal is directly linked to the provisioning of pollination and pest control services in natural and agricultural ecosystems such as fruit crops (e.g. soursop, Annona muricata) or the protection of cultures (e.g. sugarcane).