Identification and field optimisation of the female sex pheromone of the rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis in India
Abstract
Analysis of ovipositor washings from virgin female Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenée (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) of Indian origin by linked gas chromatography and electroantennography indicated the presence of three electrophysiologically-active compounds. These were identified on the basis of their gas chromatographic retention times and mass spectra as (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate, (Z)-13-octadecenyl acetate and (Z)-13-octadecen-1-ol with (Z)-13-octadecenyl acetate present in amounts of between 0.25 and 1.5 ng per ovipositor and the other two components at less than 10% of this. Trace quantities of octadecyl acetate were identified by mass spectrometry but no electroantennographic responses were observed to this compound. Field trials conducted with a range of blends of the three electrophysiologically-active compounds showed that blends containing between 5% and 30% (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate in (Z)-13-octadecenyl acetate dispensed from either white rubber septa or polythene vials were more attractive to male moths than a virgin female moth. Addition of (Z)-13-octadecen-1-ol reduced attractiveness to male moths in the blends and concentrations tested.
Citation
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (1995) 74 (3) 195-200 [DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.1995.tb01891.x]