The peachtree borer, Synanthedon exitiosa (Say) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), is an important pest of commercial cultivations of peach trees, Prunus persicae (L.) (Rosaceae). Identification of semiochemicals that mediate host selection by adult S. exitiosa may lead to the development of a new earth‐friendly tactic within integrated programs for control of S. exitiosa. Larvae develop in the phloem of peach trees where their feeding stimulates the production of gum frass, a mixture of tree phloem particles, tree sap (gum), and larval feces (frass). We tested the hypothesis that gum‐frass semiochemicals signal a potential host tree, and induce oviposition by female S. exitiosa. In coupled gas chromatographic‐electroantennographic detection analyses of Porapak Q‐collected gum frass volatiles, 21 compounds elicited responses from male or female S. exitiosa antennae. These compounds included four acids, four hydrocarbons, four ketones, three acetates, two aldehydes, γ‐decalactone, conophthorin, 2‐phenylethanol, and 2‐isopropyl‐3‐methoxypyrazine. In dual‐choice laboratory experiments, all groups of compounds, except the acetates, were needed to induce significantly more egg laying by female S. exitiosa on treatment than on unbaited control oviposition sites. By responding to gum frass semiochemicals, female S. exitiosa seem to exploit signals that are complex, detectable, and that reliably indicate a potential host tree for larval development.
In field and laboratory bioassay experiments, we show that larvae of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, cocoon in aggregations. This aggregation behavior of fifth-instar larvae prior to pupation and arrestment of eclosed adult males by mature female pupae seems to allow mating as soon as an adult female ecloses. This synchronous timing is realized because foraging fifth-instar are attracted by cocoon-spinning larvae and prepupae, but not by pupae, and because male pupae develop faster than female pupae. Eclosed males are arrested by sex pheromone that disseminates from female pupae even before adult females eclose. Communication in C. pomonella within and among developmental stages (larva-larva and pupa-adult, respectively) may be a strategy to procure mates. If so, our data add to current knowledge that attraction of mates in insects relies on communication among adults, or pupae and adults.
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