Abstract
Preference of oviposition site in Trogossita japonica, the predator of the Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), the vector of pine wilt disease, was investigated in field cages. The predator almost always oviposited under the inner bark of cut or broken twig stumps of red pine bolts (72.4% of all eggs), and only 27.6% were oviposited under the outer bark, and no eggs were seen under artificial wounds with a knife to the inner bark. It also preferred to oviposit in bolts containing larvae of M. alternatus over in those not containing them. From these results, it is thought that the predator oriented to odors from the dead pine, ascertained the presence of the host and then searched for suitable sites to oviposit, mainly under the inner bark of broken twig stumps.
