PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Qingsong Liu
AU  - Xiaoyun Hu
AU  - Shuangli Su
AU  - Yufa Peng
AU  - Gongyin Ye
AU  - Yonggen Lou
AU  - Ted C. J. Turlings
AU  - Yunhe Li
TI  - Cooperative herbivory between two important pests of rice
AID  - 10.1101/2021.03.10.434708
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.03.10.434708
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/11/2021.03.10.434708.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/11/2021.03.10.434708.full
AB  - Normally, when different species of herbivorous arthropods feed on the same plant this leads to fitness reducing competition. We found this to be uniquely different for two of Asia’s most destructive rice pests, the brown planthopper and the rice striped stem borer. Both insects directly and indirectly benefit from jointly attacking the same host plant. Double infestation improved plant quality, particularly for the stemborer because the planthopper fully suppresses caterpillar-induced production of proteinase inhibitors. It also drastically reduced the risk of egg parasitism, due to diminished parasitoid attraction. Females of both pests have adapted their oviposition behaviour accordingly. Their strong preference for plants infested by the other species even overrides their avoidance of plants already attacked by conspecifics. This uncovered cooperation between herbivores is telling of the exceptional adaptations resulting from the evolution of plant-insect interactions, and points out mechanistic vulnerabilities that can be targeted to control two major pests.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.