Diel periodicity of sexual communication in Anarsia lineatella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

2006 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine K. Schlamp ◽  
Kendra Brown ◽  
Regine Gries ◽  
Melanie Hart ◽  
Gerhard Gries ◽  
...  

AbstractThe sex pheromone of the peach twig borer, Anarsia lineatella (Zeller), was identified 30 years ago but the communication biology of this species has hardly been studied. In laboratory experiments, female moths kept at a photoperiod of 16L:8D (20 ± 2 °C, 70% ± 5% relative humidity) emitted pheromone before, during, and after sunrise (0400–0600 Pacific standard time), whereas pheromone was present in pheromone glands at similar quantities throughout the 24 h recording period. These data suggest that pheromone production and emission are not closely linked. In field experiments during July 2001 near Livingston, California (CA), and during June 2002 near Keremeos, British Columbia (BC), males were attracted to traps baited with synthetic sex pheromone (CA) or conspecific females (BC) only between 0300 and 0600 (Pacific standard time), suggesting overlap between periods of pheromone emission by females and attraction response by males. Groups of females in the presence of conspecific males, which were physically separated from females, emitted less sex pheromone than groups of females in the absence of males, suggesting that males communicate their presence to females and females change their behaviour in response.

1999 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crawford McNair ◽  
Gerhard Gries ◽  
Regine Gries

Abstract(E)-9-Dodecenyl acetate (E9-12:OAc) and (Z)-9-dodecenyl acetate (Z9-12:OAc) are major components of the sex pheromone of the cherry bark tortrix (CBT), Enarmonia formosana (Scopoli), in British Columbia. The compounds were identified in extracts of female pheromone glands by coupled gas chromatographic – electroantennographic detection (GC–EAD) and coupled GC – mass spectrometry. In field experiments, traps baited with E9-12:OAc or Z9-12:OAc singly were unattractive to male CBT, but in combination at ratios of 50:50 or 40:60 captured numerous males. Increasing quantities of this two-component pheromone blend resulted in increasing captures of male CBT. This binary blend at a 10-mg dose caught more CBT males that did caged virgin CBT females. Eight other EAD-active acetates identified in extracts of pheromone glands failed to enhance attractiveness of the pheromone blend. These compounds may serve to reduce cross-attraction of heterospecific male moths or may play a role in courtship behaviour. Formulations of synthetic pheromone are being evaluated for management of the CBT using mass trapping or disorientation of male CBT moths.


2002 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 847-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Bédard ◽  
R. Gries ◽  
G. Gries ◽  
R. Bennett

The sex pheromone of the spruce seed moth, Cydia strobilella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), has not yet been identified, but several chemicals were found to be attractive to males (reviewed by Grant et al. 1989). E8-Dodecenyl acetate (E8-12:OAc) at 0.3-3.0 μg doses was the only effective attractant for males in field experiments in British Columbia, Ontario, and Newfoundland (Grant et al. 1989). Our objectives were to (i) confirm that female C. strobilella produce E8-12:OAc as a pheromone component, (ii) determine whether females produce additional pheromone components, and (iii) investigate the die1 periodicity of pheromonal communication.


2007 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 713-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Nemer ◽  
Nasri S. Kawar ◽  
Linda Kfoury ◽  
Brigitte Frerot

AbstractThe cedar web-spinning sawfly, Cephalcia tannourinensis Chevin (Hymenoptera: Pamphiliidae), is a pest that has been causing serious damage to cedar (Cedrus libani) forests in Lebanon since 1990. The existence of a sex pheromone was shown in field experiments in a cedar forest in Lebanon and in laboratory tests in olfactometers with and without airflow. More males were caught in traps baited either with virgin females or with a hexane extract of the whole female body than in traps baited either with males alone or with mixed males and females. Male and female C. tannourinensis were active during the day. Mating and pheromone production were observed to occur during midday hours (1000–1400) in the field and under laboratory conditions. Olfactometer tests with extracts prepared from different body parts of the female indicated that the pheromone is produced in the abdominal region, and tests with different dilutions of female extract showed that the male response is dose-dependent.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1062
Author(s):  
Qing-Hai Wang ◽  
Xing Gao ◽  
Hong-Song Yu ◽  
Ze Zhang ◽  
Quan-You Yu

Sex pheromones are vital to sexual communication and reproduction in insects. Although some key enzymes in pheromone production have been well studied, information on genes involved in the terminal pathway is limited. The domestic silkworm employs a pheromone blend containing (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienol (bombykol) and analogous (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienal (bombykal); whereas, its wild ancestor B. mandarina uses only bombykol. The two closely related moths might be a good model for exploring the genes involved in aldehyde pheromone synthesis and metabolism. By deep sequencing and analyzing the sex pheromone gland (PG) transcriptomes; we identified 116 candidate genes that may be related to pheromone biosynthesis, metabolism, and chemoreception. Spatiotemporal expression profiles and differentially expressed analysis revealed that four alcohol oxidases (BmorAO1; 2; 3; and 4); one aldehyde reductase (BmorAR1); and one aldehyde oxidase (BmorAOX5) might be involved in the terminal pathway. Phylogenetic analysis showed that, except for BmorAO3 and MsexAO3, AOs did not show a conversed orthologous relationship among moths; whereas, ARs and AOXs were phylogenetically conserved. This study provides crucial candidates for further functional elucidation, and which may be utilized as potential targets to disrupt sexual communication in other moth pests.


2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Sarto i Monteys ◽  
C. Quero ◽  
M.C. Santa-Cruz ◽  
G. Rosell ◽  
A. Guerrero

AbstractButterflies and moths are subject to different evolutionary pressures that affect several aspects of their behaviour and physiology, particularly sexual communication. Butterflies are day-flying insects (excluding hedylids) whose partner-finding strategy is mainly based on visual cues and female butterflies having apparently lost the typical sex pheromone glands. Moths, in contrast, are mostly night-flyers and use female-released long-range pheromones for partner-finding. However, some moth families are exclusively day-flyers, and therefore subject to evolutionary pressures similar to those endured by butterflies. Among them, the Castniidae, also called ‘butterfly-moths’ or ‘sun-moths’, behave like butterflies and, thus, castniid females appear to have also lost their pheromone glands, an unparallel attribute in the world of moths. In this paper, we review the sexual communication strategy in day-flying Lepidoptera, mainly butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), Zygaenidae and Castniidae moths, and compare their mating behaviour with that of moth families of nocturnal habits, paying particular attention to the recently discovered butterfly-like partner-finding strategy of castniids and the fascinating facts and debates that led to its discovery.


2011 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Yasui ◽  
S. Wakamura ◽  
N. Fujiwara-Tsujii ◽  
N. Arakaki ◽  
A. Nagayama ◽  
...  

AbstractA serious sugarcane pest, Dasylepida ishigakiensis, remains in the soil during most of its life cycle except for a short period for mating. Mating disruption by an artificial release of the sex pheromone (R)-2-butanol (R2B), therefore, may be a feasible method to control this pest. We examined the effects of artificial release of R2B and its related compounds, (S)-2-butanol (S2B) and the racemic 2-butanol (rac-2B), on the mating success of this beetle both in the laboratory and in the field. In flight tunnel experiments, almost all males orientated towards a R2B-releasing source and 40% of them landed on the source. When the atmosphere was permeated with R2B, the frequency of males landing on the model was significantly reduced. Both rac-2B and S2B were less effective, but substantial reduction in landing success by males was achieved at higher rac-2B concentrations. R2B released from polyethylene dispensers in sugarcane plots greatly reduced not only the proportion of females mated with males but also the number of males caught by R2B-baited traps, indicating that male mate-searching behaviour was strongly affected by the released R2B. Similar inhibitory effects on male behaviour were also observed when tube- or rope-type dispensers released high rac-2B concentrations in the field. These results indicate that it would be highly possible to control D. ishigakiensis through the disruption of the sexual communication by releasing either synthetic R2B or rac-2B.


1986 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Zapf-Gilje ◽  
S. O. Russell ◽  
D. S. Mavinic

When snow is made from sewage effluent, the impurities become concentrated in the early melt leaving the later runoff relatively pure. This could provide a low cost method of separating nutrients from secondary sewage effluent. Laboratory experiments showed that the degree of concentration was largely independent of the number of melt freeze cycles or initial concentration of impurity in the snow. The first 20% of melt removed with it 65% of the phosphorus and 90% of the nitrogen from snow made from sewage effluent; and over 90% of potassium chloride from snow made from potassium chloride solution. Field experiments with a salt solution confirmed the laboratory results.


1976 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Marks

AbstractThe synthetic sex pheromone (dicastalure) of the red bollworm of cotton, Diparopsis castanea Hmps., in Central and Southern Africa, and an inhibitor of male sexual attraction (trans-9-dodecenyl acetate,=IIA), were used in an enclosed 0·2 ha cotton field-cage to reduce successful female matings. Over one month dicastalure at 21·0 and 42·3 g/ha produced average reductions in mating of 47·9% and 72·5% respectively and 37·9 g IIA/ha produced an overall reduction in mating of 71·5%, or 79·5% in released moth populations, over the same period. The proportion of virgin females present in disruption situations was significantly greater than in untreated populations and was density-independent for moth populations of up to 2 200/ha. The proportion of fertile eggs in disruption situations was correspondingly reduced to 30·2% from an average of 67·9% in control cycles. Reduction in sex pheromone trap catches is an unsatisfactory indicator of the extent to which males are prevented from inseminating females and considerably over-estimates the true degree of disruption. This is the first time that a naturally occurring inhibitor has been used successfully to disrupt mating in a field population of insects and it indicates the potential of the method for the control of high density pest populations in cotton. However, use of polyethylene dispensing mechanisms similar to those used in the field-cage disruption experiments would be unsuitable as a practical method of dispensing behaviour modifying chemicals and it is suggested that, for suitably controlled release of such chemicals, currently available microencapsulation technology offers the best prospects.


1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 573-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet D. Tang ◽  
Walter A. Wolf ◽  
Wendell L. Roelofs ◽  
Douglas C. Knipple

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