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Sex Pheromone Components of Casuarina Moth, Lymantria xylina

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Abstract

cis-7,8-Epoxy-2-methyleicosane is a sex pheromone component of the Casuarina moth, Lymantria xylina Swinhoe. The compound was extracted from pheromone glands of female moths and was identified by coupled gas chromatographic–electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and GC–mass spectrometry. In field experiments in Taiwan, traps baited with either or both of (7R,8S)-cis-7,8-epoxy-2-methyleicosane (>99% ee) [termed here (+)-xylinalure] and (7S,8R)-cis-7,8-epoxy-2-methyleicosane (>99% ee) [termed here (−)-xylinalure] captured male L. xylina. Addition of further candidate pheromone components to xylinalure did not enhance its attractiveness. Demonstration of whether or not female L. xylina produce both optical isomers of xylinalure, and determination of the ratio, will require pheromone extract analyses on a chiral, enantiomer-separating column (as yet unavailable) or derivatization of epoxides in accumulated gland extracts. Attraction of male L. xylina to either enantiomer of xylinalure contrasts with enantiospecific production of, and/or response to, epoxy pheromones in congeners. With no other nocturnal lymantriid moth known in Taiwan to utilize xylinalure for pheromonal communication, enantiospecific “fine tuning” of xylinalure, or evolution of a more complex pheromone blend, may not have been necessary for L. xylina to maintain specificity of sexual communication. Racemic xylinalure will be appropriate for pheromone-based detection surveys of L. xylina in North America.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Gerhard Gries, Grigori Khaskin & Regine Gries

  2. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Laboratory, Newark, Delaware, 19713

    Paul W. Schaefer

  3. Department of Chemistry, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 13244

    Roger Hahn

  4. Division of Forest Protection, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jung-Tai Chao

Authors
  1. Gerhard Gries
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  2. Paul W. Schaefer
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  3. Grigori Khaskin
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  4. Roger Hahn
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  5. Regine Gries
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  6. Jung-Tai Chao
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Gries, G., Schaefer, P.W., Khaskin, G. et al. Sex Pheromone Components of Casuarina Moth, Lymantria xylina . J Chem Ecol 25, 2535–2545 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020830309624

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