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Monoalkenes as Contact Sex Pheromone Components of the Woodwasp Sirex noctilio.

Böröczky K, Crook DJ, Jones TH, Kenny JC, Zylstra KE, Mastro VC, Tumlinson JH

Center for Chemical Ecology, Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA, katalin.by@gmail.com.

A pheromone on the cuticle of females of the woodwasp Sirex noctilio, a recently introduced pest of pines in North America, induces conspecific males to attempt copulation. Dead females washed with hexane did not elicit copulation attempts from males, whereas reapplication of a female hexane body wash onto the cuticle of dead females elicited copulation attempts by 65% of males tested. Analysis of the hexane extract revealed saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons as major components of the female cuticle. Behavior-guided fractionation of the female body wash led to the identification of three components, (Z)-7-heptacosene, (Z)-7-nonacosene, and (Z)-9-nonacosene, of the sex pheromone of S. noctilio that elicited copulatory responses from males.

Published 5 October 2009 in J Chem Ecol.
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