Prior Cereal Leaf Beetle (Oulema spp.) Window-Pane Feeding Has Weak Systemic Legacy on the Wheat Dwarf Virus Vector Psammotettix alienus in Barley

Gerstenbrand, Regina and Tóth, Zoltán and Samu, Ferenc and Tholt, Gergely (2026) Prior Cereal Leaf Beetle (Oulema spp.) Window-Pane Feeding Has Weak Systemic Legacy on the Wheat Dwarf Virus Vector Psammotettix alienus in Barley. INSECTS, 17 (8). No. 783. ISSN 2075-4450

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Abstract

Plant-mediated interactions can modify herbivore behaviour and vector-borne plant disease dynamics, yet the systemic consequences of prior cereal leaf beetle (Oulema spp.) window-pane feeding for later phloem feeder vectors remain unclear. We hypothesised that prior Oulema window-pane feeding induces systemic changes in barley that alter the subsequent host acceptance and feeding behaviour of Psammotettix alienus. Plants received one of three 24 h treatments on one leaf: Oulema pre-colonisation, standardised artificial vascular injury or an undamaged control. Leafhopper responses were measured on a different, systemic leaf using female choice assays and electrical penetration graph recordings. Oulema damage was low and strongly right-skewed and did not affect most feeding variables, including non-phloem activities, phloem activity, drinking latency or phloem activity latency. Artificial vascular injury, however, reduced the phloem–saliva ratio in females, which indicates a lower relative investment in phloem preparation once the phloem phase was reached. Within Oulema-treated plants, increasing damage reduced the number of transitions between penetration phases in males but not females. Females showed no treatment-related preference in salivary sheath production or oviposition. Thus, Oulema window-pane feeding left only a weak systemic plant-mediated legacy for P. alienus, closer to behavioural neutrality than strong facilitation or interference under these short-term systemic experimental conditions.

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