STIMULATORY MALE VOLATILES FOR THE NEOTROPICAL BROWN STINK BUG, EUSCHISTUS HEROS (F.) (HETEROPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE).

Authors: Zhang, Aijun; BORGES, MIGUEL - EMBRAPA; Aldrich, Jeffrey; Camp, Mary

Submitted to: Neotropical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2003
Publication Date: 12/1/2003
Citation: Zhang, A., Borges, M., Aldrich, J.R., Camp, M. 2003 Stimulatory male volatiles for the neotropical brown stink bug, Euschistus heros (F.)(Heteroptera: Pentatomidae).

Interpretive Summary: The Neotropical brown stink bug, Euschistus heros, is one species in a complex of stink bugs that are serious pests of soybean in Central and South America. More than four million liters of chemical insecticides are applied annually to control these pests in Brazil alone. Ecologically benign management methods are needed here. A more completed attractant blend has been identified and activity has been proven in a laboratory bioassay. The newly identified blend from the brown stink bug has potential for growers to monitor and mass trap this economic pest without interfering with other beneficial species.

Technical Abstract: A blend of three methyl esters from the male Neotropical brown stinkbug, Euschistus heros, is proposed as a more completed male- produced pheromone based on gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) techniques. Identities of these esters were confirmed by comparison of GC retention times on polar and non-polar capillary columns and of GC-Mass spectra with authentic samples. The three GC-EAD active components reproducibly found in volatiles collected from males were methyl (2E,4Z)-decadienoate (53%), methyl 2,6,10-trimethyldodecanoate (3%), and methyl 2,6,10- trimethyltridecanoate (44%). Laboratory olfactometer behavior bioassays showed that 5 micrograms of the synthetic blend on a filter paper strip was as attractive as ten 20-day-old live males to female bugs.