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Pheromone chirality of african palm weevil,Rhynchophorus phoenicis (F.) and palmetto weevil,Rhynchophorus cruentatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

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Abstract

There are four stereoisomers of both 3-methyl-octan-4-ol, the aggregation pheromone of the African palm weevil,Rhynchophorus phoenicis (F.) and 5-methyl-octan-4-ol, the aggregation pheromone of the palmetto weevil,Rhynchophorus cruentatus (F.). Synthetic stereoisomers of 3-methyl-octan-4-ol and 5-methyl-octan-4-ol were baseline-separated on a Cyclodex-B fused silica column. Use of this column in gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and GC-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analyses revealed that only one stereoisomer, (3S,4S)-3-methyl-octan-4-ol and (4S,5S)-5-methyl-octan-4-ol, is produced by maleR. phoenicis and maleR. cruentatus, respectively, and elicits good antennal responses by conspecific male and female weevils. In field trapping experiments, withR. phoenicis in Côte d'Ivoire andR. cruentatus in Florida, (3S,4S)-3-methyl-octan-4-ol and (4S,5S)-5-methyl-octan-4-ol strongly enhanced attraction of fresh palm tissue, whereas other stereoisomers were behaviorally benign. Stereoisomeric 3-methyl-octan-4-ol and 5-methyl-octan-4-ol may be utilized to monitor and/or manage populations of these two palm weevils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Alice L. Perez & A. Cameron Oehlschlager

  2. Centre for Pest Management, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Gerhard Gries & Regine Gries

  3. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Centre, University of Florida, 3314, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

    Robin M. Giblin-Davis

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  1. Alice L. Perez
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  2. Gerhard Gries
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  3. Regine Gries
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  5. A. Cameron Oehlschlager
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Perez, A.L., Gries, G., Gries, R. et al. Pheromone chirality of african palm weevil,Rhynchophorus phoenicis (F.) and palmetto weevil,Rhynchophorus cruentatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). J Chem Ecol 20, 2653–2671 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02036199

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