Authors: Cervantes, Daniel E.; Hanks, Lawrence M.; Lacey, Emerson S.; Barbour, James D.

Source: Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 99, Number 4, July 2006 , pp. 718-722(5)

Publisher: Entomological Society of America

Abstract:

We conducted laboratory and field studies to test the hypothesis that volatile pheromones mediate mate location in the longhorned beetle Prionus californicus Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Cerambyicidae), an important pest of many agricultural and ornamental plants. Males were strongly attracted to live females and to carcasses of freshly killed females in olfactometer bioassays. Males also responded strongly to excised ovipositors of freshly killed females but not to their excised heads, thoraces, or abdomens. In field studies, males were strongly attracted to cages baited with live females. These findings demonstrate that female P. californicus produce a volatile pheromone from the ovipositor that attracts males over a distance, and they provide the first conclusive evidence of a volatile sex pheromone for a species of the primitive cerambycid subfamily Prioninae.

Keywords: Prionus californicus; wood borer; semiochemical; mate location

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2006-07-01

More about this publication?

• Annals of the Entomological Society of America is published in January, March, May, July, September, and November. Annals especially invites submission of manuscripts that integrate different areas of insect biology, and address issues that are likely to be of broad relevance to entomologists. Articles also report on basic aspects of the biology of arthropods, divided into categories by subject matter: systematics; ecology and population biology; arthropod biology; arthropods in relation to plant diseases; conservation biology and biodiversity; physiology, biochemistry, and toxicology; morphology, histology, and fine structure; genetics; and behavior.
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