Diel periodicity of sexual communication in Anarsia lineatella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Abstract

AbstractThe sex pheromone of the peach twig borer, Anarsia lineatella (Zeller), was identified 30 years ago but the communication biology of this species has hardly been studied. In laboratory experiments, female moths kept at a photoperiod of 16L:8D (20 ± 2 °C, 70% ± 5% relative humidity) emitted pheromone before, during, and after sunrise (0400–0600 Pacific standard time), whereas pheromone was present in pheromone glands at similar quantities throughout the 24 h recording period. These data suggest that pheromone production and emission are not closely linked. In field experiments during July 2001 near Livingston, California (CA), and during June 2002 near Keremeos, British Columbia (BC), males were attracted to traps baited with synthetic sex pheromone (CA) or conspecific females (BC) only between 0300 and 0600 (Pacific standard time), suggesting overlap between periods of pheromone emission by females and attraction response by males. Groups of females in the presence of conspecific males, which were physically separated from females, emitted less sex pheromone than groups of females in the absence of males, suggesting that males communicate their presence to females and females change their behaviour in response.