Tactics that manipulate insect behavior are a component of many pest management strategies. Pheromone-based mating disruption is one such tactic widely used in agricultural systems, but few studies have assessed disrupting other mate communication mechanisms, such as acoustic signals. The most destructive pear pest in the Pacific Northwest USA, pear psylla (Cacopsylla pyricola) is believed to use acoustic signals to find mates, making it a candidate for this type of disruption. This species has two adult morphs, overwintering adults (winterforms) that emerge in the spring and subsequent generations (summerforms). Our study characterized the mating signals for both sexes and morphs of pear psylla, and assessed whether temperature and previous exposure to adult conspecifics altered signals and likelihood of signaling. While there are descriptions for acoustic signals of other psyllid species, this study provides the first evidence that C. pyricola communicates acoustically. The two sexes communicate via duetting; males signal to attract a female and the female signals back if she is receptive for mating. We showed that both morphotypes’ male signals contain a group of chirps followed by a trill, while females respond with chirps. Male signal trills differed significantly in frequency (Hz) between winterform and summerform psylla. The signal frequency among morphs also had a positive linear relationship with temperature, suggesting that dissimilarity in signals among morphs had some relationship to temperature. Males were more likely to signal when they had previous exposure to females compared to males without exposure to females. Our results provide new information on how pear psylla communicate acoustically for mating, advancing the potential to develop mating disruption strategies for integrated pest management (IPM).

操纵昆虫行为的策略是许多害虫管理策略的组成部分。基于信息素的交配干扰是农业系统中广泛使用的一种策略，但很少有研究评估干扰其他交配通信机制（例如声学信号）的情况。梨木虱（ Cacopsyllapyricola ）是美国太平洋西北地区最具破坏性的梨害虫，据信它利用声波信号寻找配偶，使其成为此类破坏的候选者。该物种有两种成虫形态，即在春季出现的越冬成虫（冬型）和随后的几代（夏季型）。我们的研究描述了梨木虱的性别和形态的交配信号，并评估了温度和之前接触成虫同种是否改变了信号和信号传导的可能性。虽然有对其他木虱物种的声信号的描述，但这项​​研究提供了木虱通过声音进行交流的第一个证据。两性通过二重奏进行交流；雄性发出信号来吸引雌性，如果雌性愿意交配，雌性也会发出信号。我们发现，两种形态类型的雄性信号都包含一组鸣叫声，然后是颤音，而雌性则以鸣叫声做出反应。冬型木虱和夏型木虱之间的雄性信号颤音在频率（Hz）上存在显着差异。变形体之间的信号频率也与温度呈正线性关系，这表明变形体之间信号的差异与温度有一定的关系。与没有接触过女性的男性相比，男性在之前接触过女性时更有可能发出信号。我们的研究结果提供了关于梨木虱如何通过声音进行交配交流的新信息，从而提高了开发综合害虫管理（IPM）交配干扰策略的潜力。