Title: | "Identification of a sex attractant pheromone for male winterform pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola" |
Author(s): | Guedot C; Millar JG; Horton DR; Landolt PJ; |
Address: | "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Wapato, WA 98951, USA. christelle.guedot@ars.usda.gov" |
DOI: | 10.1007/s10886-009-9725-2 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-1561 (Electronic) 0098-0331 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Forster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), a major economic pest of pears, uses a female-produced sex attractant pheromone. We compared the chemical profiles obtained from cuticular extracts of diapausing and post-diapause winterform males and females to isolate and identify the pheromone. Post-diapause females produced significantly more of the cuticular hydrocarbon, 13-methylheptacosane, than post-diapause males and diapausing females. In olfactometer assays, conspecific males were attracted to synthetic racemic 13-methylheptacosane, whereas females were not, indicating that the behavioral response to this chemical is sex-specific. Furthermore, 13-methylheptacosane was as attractive to males as a cuticular extract of females, suggesting that this chemical was largely responsible for the female attractiveness. A field study showed that males but not females were attracted to 13-methylheptacosane, confirming the olfactometer results. This study provides evidence that 13-methylheptacosane is a sex attractant pheromone for C. pyricola winterform males. This is the first identification of a sex pheromone in the Psylloidea. Our results open the path to developing monitoring tools and possibly new strategies for integrated pest management of this insect" |
Keywords: | Animals Female Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Hemiptera/*chemistry/metabolism Male Pyrus/*parasitology Sex Attractants/*chemistry/isolation & purification/metabolism; |
Notes: | "MedlineGuedot, Christelle Millar, Jocelyn G Horton, David R Landolt, Peter J eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2010/01/12 J Chem Ecol. 2009 Dec; 35(12):1437-47. doi: 10.1007/s10886-009-9725-2" |