Monday, December 11, 2006 - 8:59 AM
0331

Behavioral evidence of a male-produced aggregation pheromone in strawberry sap beetle (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

Rebecca Loughner, rll26@cornell.edu1, Gregory English-Loeb, gme1@cornell.edu1, Shannon B. Olsson, shannonolsson@ucla.edu2, Charles E. Linn, cel1@cornell.edu1, Wendell L. Roelofs, wlr1@cornell.edu1, and Paul Robbins, psr1@cornell.edu1. (1) Cornell University, NYSAES, 630 W. North St, Geneva, NY, (2) University of California - Los Angeles, 618 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA

The strawberry sap beetle (SSB) is a pest of strawberry in the Northeastern United States that has become more problematic in recent years. The beetle has gland structures that in related Nitidulid species are associated with production of aggregation pheromone that is attractive to both sexes. Mating trials, flight tunnel assays, and a field experiment with collected headspace volatiles were used to find behavioral evidence of a similar aggregation pheromone in SSB. Data show that 1) there is no evidence for a female produced sex-pheromone in SSB, 2) mating status of beetles does not affect response to or production of the pheromone, 3) beetles mate multiple times, 4) both sexes respond to males feeding on bread dough, and 5) more SSB are captured in traps baited with a combination of whole wheat bread dough and headspace volatiles collected from male beetles feeding on dough than in traps baited with dough only. Based on this evidence, SSB is using an aggregation pheromone for communication.


Species 1: Coleoptera Nitidulidae Stelidota geminata (strawberry sap beetle)

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