ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND SYNTHESIS OF THE FEMALE SEX PHEROMONE OF THE TEA TUSSOCK MOTH, EUPROCTIS PSEUDOCONSPERSA (LEPIDOPTERA: LYMANTRIDAE)

Abstract

The sex attractant pheromone of the tea tussock moth, a serious economic pest of tea plantations in southern China, has been identified as 10,14‐dimethylpentadecyl isobutyrate. A synthesis of the racemic form of the pheromone was developed, and traps baited with the synthetic compound at doses of 40–1000 micrograms captured male moths. The synthetic pheromone was as effective as a trap bait as, virgin female moths, or extracts of female moths.

Sex pheromone of the oriental tussock moth Artaxa subflava (Bremer) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae): Identification and field attraction

“…subflava in the mid 90's. The compounds identified were the same compounds as those of the tea tussock moth, Arna pseudoconspersa (Strand) (Wakamura et al, 1994(Wakamura et al, , 1996aIchikawa et al, 1995;Zhao et al, 1996Zhao et al, , 1998, which had been also Euproctis before Holloway (1999). We hesitated to present these facts because we failed to catch any male moths with the synthetic compounds in the Tsukuba area, probably due to low local insect density.…”

“…6). The sex pheromone of Arna pseudoconspersa is also (R)-M10M14-15:iBu (Wakamura et al, 1994(Wakamura et al, , 1996aIchikawa et al, 1995;Zhao et al, 1996Zhao et al, , 1998. Although the enantiomer problem (Wakamura et al, 1996a;Zhao et al, 1998) still remains to be solved before further detailed discussion, cross attraction between these two species is of interest.…”