Testing the Preference–Performance Hypothesis in Phytophagous Insects: Lessons from Chrysanthemum Leafminer (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

The relationship between host-plant preference and different offspring fitness components was investigated for the chrysanthemum leafminer, Chromatomyia syngenesiae Hardy. Three host-plant species were tested for their fitness consequences both in the laboratory and in the field. Three controlled tests then measured host-plant preference in the adult female leafminers. Leafminer larvae developed slower on Sonchus arvensis L. than on 2 other species, Sonchus oleraceus L. and Senecio jacobaea L. In the field, the severity of some mortality components was affected by the host-plant species, and survival of miners to emergence was 2 orders of magnitude lower than in the laboratory. S. arvensis was consistently the least or joint-least preferred species, but the most preferred species varied in different tests. The results demonstrate the advantages of extensive data collection in testing for optimal host-plant selection.