Mating Disruption as a Suppression Tactic in Programs Targeting Regulated Lepidopteran Pests in US

Abstract

Mating disruption, the broadcast application of sex-attractant pheromone to reduce the ability of insects to locate mates, has proven to be an effective method for suppressing populations of numerous moth pests. Since the conception of mating disruption, the species-specificity and low toxicity of pheromone applications has led to their consideration for use in area-wide programs to manage invasive moths. Case histories are presented for four such programs where the tactic was used in the United States: Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm), Lymantria dispar (gypsy moth), Epiphyas postvittana (light brown apple moth), and Lobesia botrana (European grapevine moth). Use of mating disruption against P. gossypiella and L. botrana was restricted primarily to agricultural areas and relied in part (P. gossypiella) or wholly (L. botrana) on hand-applied dispensers. In those programs, mating disruption was integrated with other suppression tactics and considered an important component of overall efforts that are leading toward eradication of the invasive pests from North America. By contrast, L. dispar and E. postvittana are polyphagous pests, where pheromone formulations have been applied aerially as stand-alone treatments across broad areas, including residential neighborhoods. For L. dispar, mating disruption has been a key component in the program to slow the spread of the infestation of this pest, and the applications generally have been well tolerated by the public. For E. postvittana, public outcry halted the use of aerially applied mating disruption after an initial series of treatments, effectively thwarting an attempt to eradicate this pest from California. Reasons for the discrepancies between these two programs are not entirely clear.

Mining the Volatilomes of Plant-Associated Microbiota for New Biocontrol Solutions

“…), but the development of VOC-derived technologies is still embryonic. However, the successful volatile-based mating disruption of pest insects semiochemicals (Reddy and Guerrero, 2010 ; Lance et al, 2016 ) stands for an encouraging proof-of-concept. The rather sharp transition from the laboratory to the field has often been smoothed by a switch from model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana to economically important plants and greenhouse experiments.…”

Female sex pheromone of Athetis lepigone (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Identification and field evaluation

“…In addition, food safety and environmental pollution induced by chemical control attracts more and more concerns. As a green technique, insect sex pheromone has been widely used for pest monitoring and control in way of mass trapping or mating disruption, which greatly helps in pest sustainable control (Ando, Inomata, & Yamamoto, 2004;Cui & Zhu, 2016;Lance, Leonard, Mastro, & Walters, 2016;Witzgall, Kirsch, & Cork, 2010). For A. lepigone, only little information was available regarding the attractant of male moth (Szóćs, Tóth, & Novák, 1981), and the identification and field evaluation of sex pheromone has not been reported.…”

Synthesis of (+)-Disparlure via Enantioselective Iodolactonization

“…We now report the application of this facile iodolactonization-epoxidation sequence to a concise enantioselective synthesis of (+)-disparlure, an important insect pheromone that is broadly used to manage gypsy moth populations. 6 …”