3-pentanol: A new attractant present in volatile emissions from the Ambrosia Beetle, Megaplatypus mutatus

GATTI LIGUORI, PABLO; ZERBA, EDUARDO; ALZOGARAY, RAÚL A.; GONZÁLEZ AUDINO, PAOLA

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ECOLOGY

Springer

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2008 vol. 34 p. 1446 - 1451

0098-0331

Megaplatypus mutatus (Coleoptera: Platypodidae) is an ambrosia beetle that is native to South America. It only attacks standing live trees and causes severe stem breakage and death in commercial poplar (Populus) plantations. Previous work in our laboratory showed that male M. mutatus emits a sex pheromone composed mainly of (+)-sulcatol and sulcatone. We collected male volatile emissions during the hours of maximum emergence by using a specific polar microextraction phase; analyzed the extract by GC-MS; and tested the biological activity of selected compounds in the extract with a walking behavioral assay. Female M. mutatus emerged primarily between 7 and 23 h. In the chemical analyses of volatiles, a third compound, 3-pentanol was identified in a small percentage of samples.  Walking behavioral bioassays with video image analysis showed that at the doses tested, 3-pentanol elicited an attractive response from females.