Abstract
Three compounds have been identified as components of the sex pheromone emitted by females of the saltmarsh caterpillar moth,Estigmene acrea (Drury). These are (Z,Z)-9,12-octadecadienal (I), (Z,Z,Z)-9,12,15-octadecatrienal (II), and (Z,Z)-3,6-cis-9,10-epoxyheneicosadiene (III). In female tip extract they were found in a ratio of 1∶6∶25, respectively, and in trapped female effluvia the ratio was 1∶6∶27, respectively. Combinations of III with either I or II elicited sustained upwind flight in a wind tunnel, but none of these compounds by themselves did so. There is evidence that the antennal acceptor site for III is chiral.
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Lepidoptera: Arctiidae.
Supported in part by the Rockefeller Foundation and by National Science Foundation Grants GB-38020 and PCM 78-13241.
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Hill, A.S., Roelofs, W.L. Sex pheromone of the saltmarsh caterpillar moth,Estigmene acrea . J Chem Ecol 7, 655–668 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00990299
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00990299