Identification and field verification of an aggregation pheromone from the white-spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis Lewis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Xiaofang Zhang,Liuyang Wang,Zhongyue Wang,Xiangdong Mei,Yongqiang Liu,Tao Zhang,Chunqin Liu

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01887-y

Abstract

The white-spotted flower chafer (WSFC), Protaetia brevitarsis Lewis, is native to East Asia. Although their larvae are considered a potential resource insect for degrading plant residues, producing protein fodder, and processing to traditional medicine, adult WSFCs inflict damage to dozens of fruit and economic crops. The control of the WSFC still relies heavily on pesticides and the inefficient manual extraction of adults. Here, we report the identification and evaluation of the aggregation pheromone of WSFCs. From the headspace volatiles emitted from WSFC adults, anisole, 4-methylanisole, 2-heptanone and 2-nonanone were identified as WSFC-specific components. However, only anisole and 4-methylanisole elicited positive dose–response relationship in electroantennography tests, and only 4-methylanisole significantly attracted WSFCs of both sexes in olfactometer bioassays and field experiments. These results concluded that 4-methylanisole is the aggregation pheromone of WSFCs. Furthermore, we developed polyethylene vials as long-term dispensers of 4-methylanisole to attract and kill WSFCs. The polyethylene vial lures could effectively attracted WSFCs for more than four weeks. Pheromone-based lures can be developed as an environmentally friendly protocol for monitoring and controlling WSFC adults.

Highlights

The white-spotted flower chafer (WSFC), Protaetia brevitarsis Lewis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) (NCBI: txid348688) is native to East-Asia and distributed throughout Japan, Korea, Mongolia and C hina[1]
Both male and female WSFCs were attracted to the bucket traps baited with live beetles, and the captures of WSFC males and females were approximately equal in all treatments (Fig. 1), suggesting that aggregation pheromones rather than sex pheromones, existed in the WSFC population
In the field experiment of verifying the existence of long-distance pheromones, no deaths or escapes of the marked beetles were recorded over a one-day interval, indicating that the captured WSFCs had no opportunities to escape from the bucket traps

Summary

Introduction

The white-spotted flower chafer (WSFC), Protaetia brevitarsis Lewis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) (NCBI: txid348688) is native to East-Asia and distributed throughout Japan, Korea, Mongolia and C hina[1]. There have been outbreaks of the WSFCs that have caused damage to economic crops in China during the last three decades, there are currently no reliable control strategies for use against WSFCs. Commonly, WSFC larvae spend most of their lives underground often distant from o rchards[3], while adults are excellent flyers that have the ability to colonize feeding and breeding sites r apidly[10]. WSFC larvae spend most of their lives underground often distant from o rchards[3], while adults are excellent flyers that have the ability to colonize feeding and breeding sites r apidly[10] Another issue that weakens the control efficacy is that the adults preferentially attack ripe or nearly ripe fruits that cannot safely be sprayed with insecticides[10].

Methods

Results

Conclusion