Abstract
Under laboratory conditions, mating activity in Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) started 4 days after emergence, peaked at day 7, and showed a clear window of activity starting 8 h into the photophase and extending through the first hour of the scotophase. We confirmed that ACP males are attracted to emanations from conspecific females. Traps loaded with a candidate compound enriched with female extract, lignoceryl acetate (24Ac), at various doses were active only after being deployed for several weeks in the field, suggesting that a degradation product, not the test compound, was the active ingredient(s). Lignocerol, a possible product of 24Ac degradation, was not active, whereas acetic acid, another possible degradation product, was found in the airborne volatile collections from lures matured under field conditions and detected in higher amounts in volatiles collected from females at the peak of mating activity than in male samples. Acetic acid elicited dose-dependent electroantennographic responses and attracted ACP males, but not females, in Y-type and 4-way olfactometers. Field tests showed that acetic acid-baited traps captured significantly more males than control traps. Surprisingly, captures of females in acetic acid-baited traps were also higher than in control traps, possibly because of physical stimuli emitted by captured males.
Highlights
The Huanglongbing (HLB), known as citrus greening, is one of the most devastating problems in agriculture worldwide, for the citrus industry[1] given that, once infected, trees must be eradicated
We aimed at the identification of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP)-derived semiochemicals for possible applications as trap lures, but given the scenario in the current literature and due to possible geographical variations, we decided to start from scratch by establishing a laboratory colony of ACP with insects collected on orange jasmine (Brazilian common name, murta), Murraya paniculata, in São Paulo, Brazil, studying its basic biology and behavior, attempting to isolate and identify sex-specific or sex-enriched semiochemicals, and testing them under laboratory and field conditions
We report on the identification of an ACP sex pheromone, which was initially detected while testing another putative sex pheromone under field conditions
Summary
ACP pheromones remain elusive, most probably because ACP’s complex behavior and biology have confounded isolation of the active semiochemicals These confounding factors include acoustic communication[15], the unusual observation that mated females appear more attractive than virgin females[13], influence of the female abdomen color on male attraction[16], and the intriguing report that male attraction to female odor significantly increased after mating experience[17]. We aimed at the identification of ACP-derived semiochemicals for possible applications as trap lures, but given the scenario in the current literature and due to possible geographical variations, we decided to start from scratch by establishing a laboratory colony of ACP with insects collected on orange jasmine (Brazilian common name, murta), Murraya paniculata, in São Paulo, Brazil, studying its basic biology and behavior, attempting to isolate and identify sex-specific or sex-enriched semiochemicals, and testing them under laboratory and field conditions. We report on the identification of an ACP sex pheromone, which was initially detected while testing another putative sex pheromone under field conditions
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