Disruption of sexual communication in the mirid bug Lygocoris pabulinus by hexyl butanoate

Summary 1 The metathoracic scent gland in Lygocoris pabulinus contains mostly hexyl butanoate. As secretions of this gland in Heteroptera may serve as an alarm pheromone, we determined whether hexyl butanoate is released by disturbed bugs, and whether this compound disrupts sexual attraction of L. p...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Agricultural and forest entomology Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 49 - 55
Main Authors:	Groot, Astrid T., Drijfhout, Falko P., Heijboer, Anneke, Van Beek, Teris A., Visser, J. Hans
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-02-2001
Subjects:	Alarm pheromone dispersal behaviour EPS Heteroptera Laboratorium voor Entomologie Laboratorium voor Organische chemie Laboratory for Organic Chemistry Laboratory of Entomology metathoracic scent gland Miridae Organic Chemistry Organische Chemie pest management Plant Research International sex pheromone inhibition
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Summary 1 The metathoracic scent gland in Lygocoris pabulinus contains mostly hexyl butanoate. As secretions of this gland in Heteroptera may serve as an alarm pheromone, we determined whether hexyl butanoate is released by disturbed bugs, and whether this compound disrupts sexual attraction of L. pabulinus males towards females. 2 Undisturbed males and females, and disturbed males released less than 100 ng/h hexyl butanoate, whereas disturbed females released a highly variable amount, ranging from 25 ng/h to more than 1 μg/h. 3 In the field, traps with virgin females and rubber septa containing 20 mg hexyl butanoate, caught a total of one male in a month. In control traps without hexyl butanoate, 36 males were caught in the same period. 4 In Y‐track olfactometer tests, males were not attracted to virgin females when a dispenser with 20 mg hexyl butanoate was placed in the bottle with females. Males were attracted to females when the dispenser was placed downwind from the females, but upwind from the point of male release. 5 These results suggest that males are not repelled by hexyl butanoate, but that this compound inhibits sex pheromone release in females. Application possibilities for pest management are discussed.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-91KS415C-Z istex:722AAE75750891911DC14683D3E778A63C6655BA ArticleID:AFE088 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	1461-9555 1461-9563
DOI:	10.1046/j.1461-9563.2001.00088.x