Development of a Female-Targeted Lure for the Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae): a Preliminary Report

Antal Nagy,Zsolt Kárpáti,Béla Péter Molnár,István Szarukán,Sándor Koczor,Judit Csabai,Miklós Tóth

doi:10.1007/s10886-019-01094-0

Abstract

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis, is an invasive pest in Europe causing damage on Buxus species. In this study, we aimed to develop a “bisexual” lure to attract both female and male moths. Based on a previous screening bioassay we tested methyl salicylate, phenylacetaldehyde and eugenol as potential attractants in different combinations. The trapping results showed that both binary and ternary blends attracted male and female moths. Catches with these blends were comparable to catches with the synthetic pheromone. Subsequently we carried out single sensillum recordings, which proved the peripheral detection of the above-mentioned compounds on male and female antennae. To identify synergistic flower volatiles, which can be also attractive and can increase the trap capture, we collected flower headspace volatiles from 12 different flowering plant species. Several components of the floral scents evoked good responses from antennae of both females and males in gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection. The most active components were tentatively identified by gas chromatography coupled mass spectrometry as benzaldehyde, cis-ß-ocimene, (±)-linalool and phenethyl alcohol. These selected compounds in combination did not increase significantly the trap capture compared to the methyl salicylate- phenyacetaldehyde blend. Based on these results we discovered the first attractive blend, which was able to attract both adult male and female C. perspectalis in field conditions. These results will yield a good basis for the optimization and development of a practically usable bisexual lure against this invasive pest.

Highlights

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis Walker, Lepidoptera: Crambidae (BTM) is a devastating invasive pest of the Buxus genus, originating in East Asia (Inoue 1982)
Identification of Electrophysiologically-Active Compounds Emitted by Flowers Based on our previous observation of BTM adults feeding on different flowers, we collected headspace volatiles from these flowers and analyzed them by GCEAD and Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to detect and identify antennally-active compounds
Peripheral Detection of Compounds by Sensillum Recordings (SSR) Single sensillum recordings were obtained to characterize the response of the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) tuned to eugenol, methyl a b

Summary

Introduction

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis Walker, Lepidoptera: Crambidae (BTM) is a devastating invasive pest of the Buxus genus, originating in East Asia (Inoue 1982). The female-produced sex pheromone of BTM was shown to contain (Z)-11-hexadecenal, (E)-11-hexadecenal and (Z)11-hexadecenol (Kawazu et al 2007) and traps baited with a 4:1 mixture of synthetic (Z)- and (E)-11-hexadecenal proved to be useful in detecting the occurrence of the pest in Asia and in Europe (Kim and Park 2013; Nagy et al 2017; Santi et al 2015). Tracking the seasonal activity of females could give important information about the female flight behavior and would make possible the study of physiological aspects like mating status, etc. These data would undoubtedly help to optimize management programs (Knight and Light 2005)

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