Abstract
The Indian gypsy moth, Lymantria obfuscata (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), has been recognized as a distinct species since 1865 but closely resembles a diminutive form of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. We tested the hypothesis that the sex pheromones of L. obfuscata and L. dispar are similar. In laboratory mate acceptance studies, very few male L. dispar made copulatory attempts when paired with female L. obfuscata, suggesting that female L. obfuscata emit one or more pheromone components antagonistic to male L. dispar. In coupled gas chromatographic–electroantennographic detection (GC–EAD) analyses of pheromone gland extract of female L. obfuscata, (Z)-2-methyloctadec-7-ene (2Me-7Z-18Hy) and (7R,8S)-cis-7,8-epoxy-2-methyloctadecane [(+)-disparlure] were most abundant and elicited the strongest responses from male L. obfuscata antennae. In field experiments near Solan (Himachal Pradesh, India), 2Me-7Z-18Hy and (+)-disparlure in combination attracted more male L. obfuscata than did either component alone. This two-component sex pheromone contrasts with the single-component sex pheromone [(+)-disparlure] of L. dispar. The contrasting composition of the lymantriid communities inhabited by L. obfuscata and L. dispar may explain why 2Me-7Z-18Hy is a pheromone component in L. obfuscata and a pheromone antagonist in L. dispar and why (−)-disparlure reduces pheromonal attraction of male L. dispar but not male L. obfuscata.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dharam Pal and Ravinder Sharma for field assistance, Girish Sharma and Amit Nath for guidance on use of suitable trapping sites, Devinder Singh for local transportation, Sanjeev Thakur for permission to run field experiments in the Kandaghat Forest Range, Gagandeep S. Hehar for logistical help, T. D. Verma and Prem Raj Gupta for information on L. obfuscata biology and behavior, Susan Barth for moth rearing, Mei-Keng Yang for elemental analyses, Stephen Takács for some statistical analysis, Eberhard Kiehlmann for review of the manuscript, and Jocelyn Millar and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. The research was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada—Industrial Research Chair to G.G., with Pherotech International Inc., SC Johnson Canada, and Global Forest Science (GF-18-2007-226; GF-18-2007-227) as industrial sponsors. Insects were maintained in SFU’s Global Forest Quarantine Facility, construction of which was completed with financial support from Global Forest Science.
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Gries, R., Schaefer, P.W., Hahn, R. et al. Sex Pheromone Components of Indian Gypsy Moth, Lymantria obfuscata . J Chem Ecol 33, 1774–1786 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-007-9328-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-007-9328-8