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BERTHA ARMYWORM (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE): DETECTION OF A SEX PHEROMONE AND THE STIMULATORY EFFECT OF SOME SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

D. L. Struble
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
M. Jacobson
Affiliation:
Agricultural Environmental Quality Institute, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
N. Green
Affiliation:
Agricultural Environmental Quality Institute, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
J. D. Warthen
Affiliation:
Agricultural Environmental Quality Institute, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland

Abstract

A sex pheromone, detected in female moths of the bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata Wlk., was extracted from females that were more than 3 days old. Males responded to the pheromone from 2 days of age until they died; younger males were not tested. Chemical and bioassay analyses indicated that the pheromone was an acetate.

The stimulatory effect of several chemicals was determined with males in a laboratory bioassay. Sexual responses were induced by Z7-, Z9-, Z10-, Z11-, and Z13-hexadecen-1-ol acetates. The maximum response in the laboratory was from the Z10-isomer, but this compound was only weakly attractive to males in the field.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1975

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