Essential oils enhance mating competitiveness of Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) males.

JUÁREZ, M. L.; RUIZ, M. J.; JOFRÉ-BARUD, F.; GOANE, L.; VALLADARES, G.; BACHMANN, G. E.; ZAMORA BELLI, A. L.; SEGURA, D.F.; FERNÁNDEZ, P.; VERA, M.T.; LÓPEZ, M. L.

Congreso; 9th Meeting of the Tephritid Workers of the Western Hemisphere; 2016

Exposure to plant chemicals may affect behavior and physiology of many phytophagous insects. This has practical implications for fruit fly pest management with the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), particularly when plant chemicals enhance mating success of mass-reared males. Previous studies with the South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied.), showed that exposure to guava and lemon fruit volatiles resulted in a positive effect on male sexual competitiveness. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of different essential oils as well as two terpenoid compounds on A. fraterculus male mating competitiveness. We exposed males to the essential oils of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) (GRO), lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm], orange [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck] and two aromatic species, Schinus polygama (Cav.) Cabrera and Baccharis spartioides (Hook & Arn. ex DC.) J. Remy as well as to limonene and citral. For all treatments, an exposed and a non-exposed male were caged with a virgin female in a mating arena. Number of matings pairs obtained by each type of male, latency to mate and duration of the copula were recorded for each treatment. Results showed that A. fraterculus males exposed to the volatiles of S. polygama and B. spartioides essential oils had a mating advantage over non-exposed males. Preliminary results showed a similar effect for lemon oil as well as for citral. On the contrary, GRO did not increase the number of mating pairs. Non significant differences were observed for latency between exposed and non-exposed males in all treatments, while for copula duration only S. polygama showed significant differences. This is the first time that essential oils are reported to sexually enhance A. fraterculus males. Together, our results are important in the context of the sexual behavior of A. fraterculus as well as in the development of the SIT for this species.