Size influences male mating success in the alfalfa blotch leafminer (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

Male size is an important parameter in mate choice for many species and has been associated with such female life-history parameters as increased fecundity or fertility and larger progeny (Phelan and Baker 1986; Savalli and Fox 1998, 1999; Brown 1999). In the alfalfa blotch leafminer, Agromyza frontella (Rondani), intraspecific larval competition may significantly influence the size of both males and females (Quiring and McNeil 1984a). The influence of female size on female reproductive success has been studied (Quiring and McNeil 1984b, 1984c), but to date, no attention has been given to the possible effects of male size. The objectives of this study were to determine if differences in male size, the result of intraspecific larval competition, affected male longevity and reproductive success, as well as various parameters of female reproduction.

Stereoselective syntheses of isomers of 3,7-dimethylnonadecane, a sex pheromone of the alfalfa blotch leafminer (Agromyza frontella (Rondani))

Two related stereoselective syntheses of 3,7-dimethylnonadecane, a sex pheromone of the alfalfa leafminer, are described to show that pulegone can serve as a useful starting material for the preparation of chiral aliphatic isoprenoid compounds. The schemes are designed to place the stereogenic center of pulegone at C.3 in one synthesis and at C.7 in the other so that the optical properties of the products can be compared with one another and with the values calculated using Brewster's rules. Key words: chiral hydrocarbons, stereoselective synthesis, pheromone, Agromyza frontella.

NOTE ON CYRTOGASTER VULGARIS WALKER (HYMENOPTERA: PTEROMALIDAE), A SECONDARY PARASITE OF THE ALFALFA BLOTCH LEAFMINER (DIPTERA: AGROMYZIDAE), WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE IMMATURE STAGES

Cyrtogaster vulgaris Walker, a pupal parasite of the alfalfa blotch leafminer, Agromyza frontella (Rondani), acts as a secondary agent as well. The adults, which deposit their eggs within host puparia, apparently do not discriminate between healthy leafminers and those parasitized by Dacnusa dryas (Nixon). The egg and larval cephalic structures of C. vulgaris are described and illustrated and the final-instar larval skins of the two parasite species are compared.