| Title: | Indole as an olfactory synergist for volatile kairomones for diabroticite beetles |
| Author(s): | Metcalf RL; Lampman RL; Deem-Dickson L; |
| Address: | "Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, 61801, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0098-0331 (Print) 0098-0331 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Olfactory synergism, where combinations of plant volatile kairomones are quantitatively more attractive to insects than the sum of attraction of the individual components, is an important but little-studied phenomenon in host plant selection and feeding and in pollination ecology. Diabroticite beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are strongly attracted toCucurbita blossoms, and 2- to 3-fold olfactory synergism has been demonstrated in four species by combinations of the key blossom volatiles, 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene, indole, and (E)-cinnamaldehyde. This TIC mixture represents an optimizedCurcurbita blossom volatile kairomone mixture useful in monitoring Diabroticite populations and in studying their behavior and ecology. Indole, which exhibits a spectrum of attraction to these beetles ranging from moderate forDiabrotica virgifera virgifera andAcalymma vittatum to very weak forD. barberi, is the primary synergistic component. Indole combined with 4-methoxycinnamaldehyde was significantly synergistic toD. v. virgifera at a ratio of 1:300 and produced 4-fold synergism at a ratio of 1:1. Indole combined with 4-methoxyphenethanol was less synergistic toD. barberi with 1.5- to 2-fold synergism at a 1:1 ratio. These consistent variations in diabroticite beetle olfactory responses presumably indicate evolutionary divergences in the numbers of relict indole antennal receptors" |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEMetcalf, R L Lampman, R L Deem-Dickson, L eng 1995/08/01 J Chem Ecol. 1995 Aug; 21(8):1149-62. doi: 10.1007/BF02228317" |
