Alkanes in flower surface waxes of Momordica cochinchinensis influence attraction to Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).
Extraction, thin-layer chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry analyses revealed 15 alkanes representing 97.14% of the total alkanes in the surface waxes of Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng flowers. Nonacosane was the prevailing alkane followed by hexatriacontane, nonadecane, heptacosane, and hentriacontane, accounting for 39.08%, 24.24%, 13.52%, 6.32%, and 5.12%, respectively. The alkanes from flower surface waxes followed by a synthetic mixture of alkanes mimicking alkanes of flower surface waxes elicited attraction of the female insect, Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) between 2 and 10-μg/mL concentrations in a Y-shaped glass tube olfactometer bioassay under laboratory conditions. Synthetic nonadecane from 178.28-891.37 ng, heptacosane from 118.14-590.72 ng, and nonacosane at 784.73 ng showed attraction of the insect. A synthetic mixture of 534.82 ng nonadecane, 354.43 ng heptacosane, and 2,354.18 ng nonacosane elicited highest attraction of A. foveicollis.
Ecology Research Lab, Dept of Zoology, The Univ of Burdwan, Burdwan, 713 104, West Bengal, India.
A
A
Mukherjee
N
N
Sarkar
A
A
Barik
D000473:Alkanes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology*; D029775:Momordica / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D014885:Waxes
D000473:Alkanes; D014885:Waxes