LAUSR

BACKGROUND Vibrational stimuli can support pest management as they provide environmentally friendly methods to manipulate insect pest behaviors. Different vibrational stimuli were used to study and influence the behavior of the meadow spittlebug Philaenus spumarius, the European vector of Xylella fastidiosa. In playback experiments, we tested the reactions of the spittlebug toward the male calling signals (test 1) and the male-male signal (test 2). In test 3, we evaluated the use of conspecific signals and noises to repel insects/disrupt mating. RESULTS Test 1 provided new insights regarding the role of the male calling signal in intraspecific communication, in particular that this signal likely do not underlie aggregation or aggression toward conspecifics. Test 2 demonstrated that the male-male signal is used by males to express distress when physically interacting, whilst when played back into a host plant it has not any repellent effect on the spittlebug. Test 3A suggested that males exploit short silence gaps to localize the signaling partner, while test 3B showed that a continuous noise with a specific frequency range successfully disrupt mating, as only one male out of 20 localized the female on the plant. CONCLUSION Playbacks obtained from prerecorded P. spumarius' signals were successfully used to accomplish ethological studies; however, this approach did not show a real potential to be used as a control strategy. On the other hand, noises designed to mask the spittlebug signals significantly disrupted species mating and could integrate other techniques aimed at reducing the spread of X. fastidiosa after appropriate implementation.