Are synthetic pheromone captures predictive of parasitoid densities as a kairomonal attracted tool?

Abstract

Abundance of White Peach scale (WPS), <em>Pseudaulacaspis pentagona </em>(Targioni-Tozzetti) and San Jos&eacute; scale (SJS), <em>Diaspidiotus perniciosus </em>(Comstock) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) adult males and their attracted parasitoids were monitored using pheromone and sticky tape traps in an orchard of Budapest, Hungary, during 2010. In this study, we tried answer on the question raised whether synthetic commercial pheromones of WSP or SJS could work as a kairomonal stimulant and positively attract higher numbers of the specialized parasitoids. Although pheromone traps attracted a wide range of parasitoid species, most of them were accidentally. However, the parasitoid <em>Thomsonisca amathus</em> (Walker) (Hymenoptera: E ncyrtidae) and the parasitoid <em>Encarsia perniciosi </em>(Tower) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) significantly respond to the sex pheromones of WPS and SJS, respectively, suggesting that they may play an important role in host location.