Identification of a sex attractant pheromone for male winterform pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola.
Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster) (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.
Guédot
Christelle
C
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Wapato, WA 98951, USA. christelle.guedot@ars.usda.gov
Millar
Jocelyn G
JG
Horton
David R
DR
Landolt
Peter J
PJ
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D031989:Pyrus / Q000469:parasitology*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
D012724:Sex Attractants