<i>Manduca sexta</i> Ovipositing (IMAGE)
Caption
Female tobacco hawkmoths prefers to lay their eggs on the underside of their host plants, such as wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata. However, if a tobacco hornworm is already feeding on a plant, the moth recognizes certain odor cues in the frass of the larva. A receptor protein that is involved in the detection of these compounds in the feces of caterpillars ensures that the female insects avoid attacked plants and look instead for another, better oviposition site.
Credit
Danny Kessler, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
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