Volatiles of essential oils and yeast derivatives influence mating behaviour of Anastrepha fraterculus males under field cage conditions

RUIZ MARÍA J.; JUÁREZ MARÍA L.; JOFRÉ BARUD FLAVIA; GOANE LUCÍA; VALLADARES, GABRIELA A.; BACHMANN GUILLERMO E.; BELLIARD, SILVINA A.; SEGURA DIEGO F.; LÓPEZ MARÍA L.; VERA MARÍA T.

ENTOMOLOGIA EXPERIMENTALIS ET APPLICATA

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2024

0013-8703

Attractants are a powerful tool for pest management. The lack of specific attractants forthe South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus, a complex of cryptic species of great economicimportance in South America, makes it difficult to monitor the pest in the field. The γ-lactonemale sex and aggregation pheromones of several Anastrepha species, naturally released in a 7:3epianastrephin to anastrephin ratio, and a structurally related naturally occurring γ-lactone ((±)-trans-tetrahydroactinidiolide) with gem-dimethyl groups (dimethyl) at C(4), were evaluated aspotential attractants of this species. Different age and mating conditions of A. fraterculus males and females were evaluated during electroantennography (EAG) and field cage experiments in whichpolymeric lures were deployed to contain 100 mg of attractant. Epianastrephin and dimethyl wereEAG+ for all fly conditions, with epianastrephin eliciting the highest response for both sexes andimmature flies showing greater responsiveness than mature flies. In the field cage experiments,immature flies were only attracted to leks; virgin females were attracted to leks, dimethyl, and bothepianastrephin-anastrephin formulations (95 and 70 wt.% epianastrephin); mature-mated maleswere attracted to leks, dimethyl and 70 wt.% epianastrephin; and mature-mated females were onlyattracted to leks. Our bioassays showed a promising performance of the analog dimethyl since itelicited the same response as epianastrephin, requires fewer steps to synthesize, and contains one