Identification and field bioassays of the sex pheromone of the yellow-legged clearwing Synanthedon vespiformis (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

Abstract

The yellow-legged clearwing (YLC) Synanthedon vespiformis (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) occurs in the Mediterranean and central Europe. It is polyphagous, boring into the woody parts of broadleaf species including forest trees as well as various Rosaceae species. S. vespiformis has been reported as an economically important pest causing severe injury to stone fruit plantations. Many attractants for sesiid species were discovered by random field screening using 2,13-and 3,13-octadecadienyl alcohols, acetates and aldehydes, including one for S. vespiformis; and about 20 sex pheromones of sesiids have been identified so far. In the present study we identified the natural composition of the sex pheromone of YLC laboratory reared females as a blend of E3,Z13-and Z3,Z13-octadecadienyl acetates, at a ratio of 4:1. We developed an efficient lure for monitoring the pest. Pheromone funnel traps with rubber septa, impregnated with 1 mg pheromone blend, efficiently captured males for 10 weeks. Suspension of Shin-Etsu Ò ropes containing a 2:1 blend of E3,Z13-18:Ac and Z3,Z13-18:Ac at 13.74 mg/ha/ h, resulted in shutdown of trap catches in the treated plots and closely situated neighboring plots indicating that mating disruption is feasible.

Latest Developments in Insect Sex Pheromone Research and Its Application in Agricultural Pest Management

“…Sex pheromones comprise sex attractant pheromones, which induce upwind oriented movements to the conspecific individual, and courtship pheromones, which elicit a variety of close-range responses in the insect partner [ 12 , 13 ]. Since the first pheromone discovery, the rapid progress of methodologies developed to identify new pheromones, mainly GC, GC-MS, NMR, electrophysiological techniques [electroantennography (EAG), gas chromatography coupled to electroantennography (GC-EAD), single sensillum recordings (SSR), and coupled GC-SSR], have allowed the identification of thousands of compounds as insect sex pheromones [ 14 ] ( Table 2 contains new sex pheromones and sex pheromone components recently identified from insect pests in the period 2010–2020 and the corresponding references [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]). In addition, an interdisciplinary approach involving advances in analytical chemistry, neurophysiology, genetics, and molecular biology have improved our understanding of insect chemical communication and behavior to the level of discrete neural circuits [ 8 ].…”

Manipulation of Chemically Mediated Interactions in Agricultural Soils to Enhance the Control of Crop Pests and to Improve Crop Yield

“…In their study, a series of terpenoids were identified as possible attractants for the nematode Tylenchulus semipenetrans, including α-and, β-pinene, limonene, geijerene, and pregeijerene (Ali et al, 2011). The identification of such specific volatiles offers the possibility of employing a confusion strategy to disrupt nematodes' host location and acceptance efforts, analogous to the pheromone confusion technique used in insect pest control (e.g., Joshi et al, 2011;Levi-Zada et al, 2011;Vacas et al, 2011Vacas et al, , 2012Schmera and Guerin, 2012). Further research will be needed to understand fully the mechanisms behind nematode attraction in order to develop lures that can compete with the plant-produced attractants.…”

First record and DNA barcode of the clearwing moth Tinthia tineiformis (Esper, 1789) from Malta, central Mediterranean

“…Sesiid moths have also been described as colonial, where colonies are usually located upon a few individual host plants (Garrevoet et al 2005;Paolucci 2016). These habitual characteristics make it generally difficult to observe and capture sesiid moths without the use of species-specific pheromone lures (Naka et al 2008;Levi-Zada et al 2011).…”