Monoalkenes as contact sex pheromone components of the woodwasp sirex noctilio

Katalin Böröczky, Damon J. Crook, Tappey H. Jones, Joshua C. Kenny, Kelley E. Zylstra, Victor C. Mastro, James H. Tumlinson

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48 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1202-1211
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Chemical Ecology
Volume35
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Biochemistry

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