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Evidence for divergence in cuticular hydrocarbon sex pheromone between California and Mississippi (United States of America) populations of bark beetle parasitoid Roptrocerus xylophagorum (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2014

Brian T. Sullivan*
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 2500 Shreveport Hwy, Pineville, Louisiana 71360, United States of America
Nadir Erbilgin
Affiliation:
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 4-42 Earth Sciences, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3
*
1 Corresponding author (email: [email protected]).

Abstract

Roptrocerus xylophagorum (Ratzeburg) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a common Holarctic parasitoid of the larvae and pupae of bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scotytinae). In no-choice laboratory bioassays, we found that male wasps derived either from northern California or southwestern Mississippi, United States of America more frequently displayed sexual behaviours (including mounting, wing fanning, and copulation attempts) to glass bulb decoys treated with hexane cuticular washes of females derived from the same parasitoid population rather than the distant population. This result suggests that the composition of the cuticular hydrocarbon sex pheromone has diverged between eastern and western populations and is consistent with previous data indicating that R. xylophagorum may consist of more than one species.

Type
Biodiversity & Evolution – NOTE
Copyright
© Entomological Society of Canada 2014 

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Footnotes

Subject editor: Jianghua Sun

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