Journal of Chemical Ecology (2009) 35, 1437-1447

Christelle Guédot, Jocelyn G. Millar, David R. Horton and Peter J. Landolt (2009)
Identification of a sex attractant pheromone for male winterform pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola
Journal of Chemical Ecology 35 (12), 1437-1447
Abstract: Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), a major economic pest of pears, uses a female-produced sex attractant pheromone. We compared the chemical profiles obtained from cuticular extracts of diapausing and post-diapause winterform males and females to isolate and identify the pheromone. Post-diapause females produced significantly more of the cuticular hydrocarbon, 13-methylheptacosane, than post-diapause males and diapausing females. In olfactometer assays, conspecific males were attracted to synthetic racemic 13-methylheptacosane, whereas females were not, indicating that the behavioral response to this chemical is sex-specific. Furthermore, 13-methylheptacosane was as attractive to males as a cuticular extract of females, suggesting that this chemical was largely responsible for the female attractiveness. A field study showed that males but not females were attracted to 13-methylheptacosane, confirming the olfactometer results. This study provides evidence that 13-methylheptacosane is a sex attractant pheromone for C. pyricola winterform males. This is the first identification of a sex pheromone in the Psylloidea. Our results open the path to developing monitoring tools and possibly new strategies for integrated pest management of this insect.
(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): Christelle Guédot, David R. Horton, Peter J. Landolt, Jocelyn G. Millar

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.
	Cacopsylla pyricola