Behavioral Evidence for a Contact Sex Pheromone Component of the Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus Planipennis Fairmaire

Lelito, Jonathan P.; Böröczky, Katalin; Jones, Tappey H.; Fraser, Ivich; Mastro, Victor C.; Tumlinson, James H.; Baker, Thomas C.

doi:10.1007/s10886-008-9583-3

Cited by 53 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…None of the synthetic decoys ever elicited a prolonged visitation of more than 2 s. This result was expected, because we did not attempt to replicate the abdominal shape and sexual organs of a female for the synthetic decoys, nor did these decoys have natural coatings of cuticular lipids like the real pinned females. Some of these cuticular lipids have been shown to act as contact sex pheromones in A. planipennis (16).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Male responses unfold as rapid flights toward the females from heights of up to 2 m, usually terminating with the males alighting directly on the females and attempting to copulate (15). This "paratrooper" descent behavior by flying A. planipennis males in the field can be repeatedly evoked by affixing dead A. planipennis females to ash leaves (15,16). Furthermore, various other potentially invasive European and North American tree-feeding Agrilus species have been observed performing similar stereotypical inflight descents onto dead beetle decoys affixed to the leaves of preferred host trees (17,18).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Bioreplicated visual features of nanofabricated buprestid beetle decoys evoke stereotypical male mating flights

Domingue¹,

Lakhtakia²,

Pulsifer³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Recent advances in nanoscale bioreplication processes present the potential for novel basic and applied research into organismal behavioral processes. Insect behavior potentially could be affected by physical features existing at the nanoscale level. We used nanobioreplicated visual decoys of female emerald ash borer beetles (Agrilus planipennis) to evoke stereotypical mate-finding behavior, whereby males fly to and alight on the decoys as they would on real females. Using an industrially scalable nanomolding process, we replicated and evaluated the importance of two features of the outer cuticular surface of the beetle's wings: structural interference coloration of the elytra by multilayering of the epicuticle and fine-scale surface features consisting of spicules and spines that scatter light into intense strands. Two types of decoys that lacked one or both of these elements were fabricated, one type nano-bioreplicated and the other 3D-printed with no bioreplicated surface nanostructural elements. Both types were colored with green paint. The light-scattering properties of the nano-bioreplicated surfaces were verified by shining a white laser on the decoys in a dark room and projecting the scattering pattern onto a white surface. Regardless of the coloration mechanism, the nano-bioreplicated decoys evoked the complete attraction and landing sequence of Agrilus males. In contrast, males made brief flying approaches toward the decoys without nanostructured features, but diverted away before alighting on them. The nano-bioreplicated decoys were also electroconductive, a feature used on traps such that beetles alighting onto them were stunned, killed, and collected. nanofabrication | structural color | spectral emission | visual response | supercontinuum laser

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioreplicated visual features of nanofabricated buprestid beetle decoys evoke stereotypical male mating flights

Domingue¹,

Lakhtakia²,

Pulsifer³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This behavior is characterized by the male rapidly descending from up to a meter above the female to 'pounce' directly onto her. The repeatability of the visually guided mating behavior was first documented in detail for Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire 1888 males approaching dead pinned specimens (Lelito et al, 2007(Lelito et al, , 2009. Similar behavior was later determined to exist for other arboreal Agrilus species Lelito et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Differences in spectral selectivity between stages of visually-guided mating approaches in a buprestid beetle

Domingue

Lelito

Myrick

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Spectral mating preferences were examined in male Agrilus angustulus (Buprestidae: Coleoptera), a member of a taxon known for its high species diversity and striking metallic coloration. The spectral emission profile of a typical A. angustulus female displays low chroma, broadly overlapping that of the green oak leaves they feed and rest upon, while also including longer wavelengths. To pinpoint behaviorally significant spectral regions for A. angustulus males during mate selection, we observed their field approaches to females of five Agrilus planipennis color morphs that have greater chroma than the normal conspecific female targets. Agrilus angustulus males would initially fly equally frequently toward any of the three longest wavelength morphs (green, copper and red) whose spectral emission profiles all overlap that of typical A. angustulus females. However, they usually only completed approaches toward the two longest wavelength morphs, but not the green morphs. Thus, spectral preference influenced mate selection by A. angustulus males, and their discrimination of suitable targets became greater as these targets were approached. This increasing spectral discrimination when approaching targets may have evolved to allow female emissions to remain somewhat cryptic, while also being visible to conspecifics as distinct from the background vegetation and heterospecific competitors.

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“…Thus, many studies have been correlational only, showing statistically significant differences in the amounts and/or types of compounds present, without being able to confirm that any one or any group of these compounds do indeed have a signaling role. Other studies have bioassayed synthesized CHCs to probe the roles of specific compounds, with some success (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22). However, this approach is limited by the large number of compounds in CHC extracts so that a single study might require syntheses of numerous standards to assess the functional roles of all possible components.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Methyl-branched cuticular hydrocarbons (MBCHs) have been identified or implicated as contact pheromones in a number of insect species (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27), but most studies involving MBCHs have ignored the issue of stereochemistry and used only racemic MBCHs in bioassays to assess function. The linked questions as to whether insects biosynthesize MBCHs enantioselectively and whether insects can discriminate between the stereoisomeric Significance Methyl-branched hydrocarbons (MBCHs) are widely used for inter-and intraspecific communication by insects.…”

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confidence: 99%

Isolation and determination of absolute configurations of insect-produced methyl-branched hydrocarbons

Bello¹,

McElfresh

Millar

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Although the effects of stereochemistry have been studied extensively for volatile insect pheromones, little is known about the effects of chirality in the nonvolatile methyl-branched hydrocarbons (MBCHs) used by many insects as contact pheromones. MBCHs generally contain one or more chiral centers and so two or more stereoisomeric forms are possible for each structure. However, it is not known whether insects biosynthesize these molecules in high stereoisomeric purity, nor is it known whether insects can distinguish the different stereoisomeric forms of MBCHs. This knowledge gap is due in part to the lack of methods for isolating individual MBCHs from the complex cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) blends of insects, as well as the difficulty in determining the absolute configurations of the isolated MBCHs. To address these deficiencies, we report a straightforward method for the isolation of individual cuticular hydrocarbons from the complex CHC blend. The method was used to isolate 36 pure MBCHs from 20 species in nine insect orders. The absolute stereochemistries of the purified MBCHs then were determined by digital polarimetry. The absolute configurations of all of the isolated MBCHs were determined to be (R) by comparison with a library of synthesized, enantiomerically pure standards, suggesting that the biosynthetic pathways used to construct MBCHs are highly conserved within the Insecta. The development of a straightforward method for isolation of specific CHCs will enable determination of their functional roles by providing pure compounds for bioassays.T he use of chemical signals is highly developed within insects, with semiochemicals mediating a wide variety of inter-and intraspecific behaviors. Volatile pheromones, such as sex and aggregation pheromones, are the most well-known types, but insects also use nonvolatile cuticular lipids as contact pheromones (1-4). The cuticular lipids consist of a complex blend of n-and methyl-branched alkanes, alkenes, and lesser amounts of more polar compounds such as esters and alcohols. The lipid layer acts primarily as a waterproofing barrier (5), but individual lipid components have evolved secondary roles as signals that mediate a variety of behaviors and physiological changes (1, 2, 6). For example, solitary insects use cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) to identify the species and sex of mates (7, 8) whereas, in social insects, CHCs mediate identification of nestmates (9, 10), recognition of castes, and task allocation within the colony (11). Social insect queens also use CHCs to signal fecundity and dominance status within the colony, inhibiting development of workers into reproductives (12)(13)(14).Determining the roles of specific CHCs as signals has been hindered by three interlinked problems. First, CHCs typically consist of a large number of compounds, which can be difficult to isolate in pure form to test their bioactivities. Specifically, CHCs have very similar polarity and so are not separable by liquid chromatography on silica gel or other polar chromatographic m...

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Behavioral Evidence for a Contact Sex Pheromone Component of the Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus Planipennis Fairmaire

Cited by 53 publications

References 7 publications

Bioreplicated visual features of nanofabricated buprestid beetle decoys evoke stereotypical male mating flights

Bioreplicated visual features of nanofabricated buprestid beetle decoys evoke stereotypical male mating flights

Differences in spectral selectivity between stages of visually-guided mating approaches in a buprestid beetle

Isolation and determination of absolute configurations of insect-produced methyl-branched hydrocarbons

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