Field attraction of striped cucumber beetles to a synthetic vittatalactone mixture

Authors: Weber, Donald

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/2018
Publication Date: 9/25/2018
Citation: Weber, D.C. 2018. Field attraction of striped cucumber beetles to a synthetic vittatalactone mixture. Journal of Economic Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy283.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy283

Interpretive Summary: The striped cucumber beetle is a key pest of cucurbit vegetables (squash, cucumbers, and melons) in eastern North America, rapidly colonizing young plantings and transmitting serious feeding damage and bacteria disease. Current control is costly, mainly pesticidal (through seed treatments or foliar sprays) and/or by use of transplants instead of direct field seeding. We seek to research and develop alternatives to the current tactics. The male beetles produce an aggregation pheromone, vittatalactone (attractive to both females and males), that has been identified and synthesized; however, until recently, the production methods were expensive and did not produce enough pheromone to be useful even for tests in the field. Using this new and less expensive mixed pheromone preparation, we tested attraction to traps and baits under field conditions in cucurbit vegetable plantings. Results indicate that mixed vittatalactone could enable highly effective and less expensive species-specific management of striped cucumber beetle. This research will be of interest to researchers and practitioners of pest management in North American vegetable crops.

Technical Abstract: The striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vittatum (F.)) is a key pest of cucurbits in eastern North America, rapidly colonizing young plantings and vectoring bacterial wilt of cucurbits. Its aggregation pheromone has been identified and synthesized stereospecifically, but has not been field-tested to date. Here, we present the first field bioassays of this pheromone, using mixed vittatalactone made with a novel and cost-efficient semispecific synthesis. This mixture of 8 stereoisomers of (2R,3R)-vittatalactone proved highly attractive to both sexes of striped cucumber beetle, using two different trap types and a pilot attract-and-kill combination with watermelon containing the diabroticine feeding stimulant cucubitacin-E-glycoside, under field conditions in cucurbit vegetable plantings. Availability of mixed vittatalactones could enable highly effective species-specific management of striped cucumber beetle.