Summerform pear psylla response to male- and female-produced volatiles from live psylla and whole-body extracts

Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is a pest of commercial pears throughout North America and Western Europe. Previous studies in our laboratory showed that female C. pyricola of both winterform and summerform morphotypes produce a volatile sex attractant that is attractive to males. In the current study, we showed that summerform males were attracted to odors from live females and female whole-body extracts. We also assayed female response to female-produced volatiles. Females did not show a preference for live females and avoided female whole-body extracts. Furthermore, summerform males and females were assayed to odors produced by conspecific males. We found that male psylla tended to avoid volatile odors from live males and body extracts of males while females did not show a preference for live males and avoided male body extracts. This study is the first to address C. pyricola female response to odors produced by conspecifics and to show that females seemed to avoid odors from males and females.