Journal of Chemical Ecology (1995) 21, 143-167

Göran Birgersson, Gary L. Debarr, Peter de Groot, Mark J. Dalusky, Harold D. Pierce Jr., John H. Borden, Holger Meyer, Wittko Francke, Karl E. Espelie and C. Wayne Berisford (1995)
Pheromones in white pine cone beetle, Conophthorus coniperda (Schwarz) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)
Journal of Chemical Ecology 21 (2), 143-167
Abstract: Female white pine cone beetles, Conophthorus coniperda, attacking second-year cones of eastern white pine, Pinus strobus L., produced a sex-specific pheromone that attracted conspecific males in laboratory bioassays and to field traps. Beetle response was enhanced by host monoterpenes. The female-produced compound was identified in volatiles collected on Porapak Q and in hindgut extracts as (+)-trans-pityol, (2R,5S)-(+)-2-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-5-methyltetrahydrofuran. Males and females produced and released the (E)-(-)-spiroacetal, (5S,7S)-(-)-7-methyl-1,6-dioxaspiro[4.5]decane, which was not an attractant for either sex, but acted as a repellent for males. Porapak Q-trapped volatiles from both sexes contained (+)-trans-pinocarveol and (-)-myrtenol. In addition, hindgut extracts of females contained trans-verbenol, while males had pinocarvone and verbenone. Work in Georgia and Canada confirmed that the same isomers of pityol and spiroacetal are present in two distinct and widely separated populations of C. coniperda.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): John H. Borden, Peter de Groot

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Conophthorus coniperda		U.S.A. (SE)