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Single-Component Pheromone Consisting of Bombykal in a Diurnal Hawk Moth, Neogurelca himachala sangaica

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Abstract

Recent work has suggested that hawk moths share pheromone components but are sexually separated by qualitative and quantitative differences in their pheromone blends. During field assays on the sex pheromones of other species, a diurnal hawk moth, Neogurelca himachala sangaica (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), was frequently captured, but the composition of the sex pheromone of this species was not known. Analysis of hexane extracts of the pheromone glands of calling female by gas chromatography (GC) using an electroantennographic detector (EAD) revealed two components that elicited EAD responses from male moth antennae. These components were identified by their mass spectra and retention indices on two GC columns as (10E,12Z)-10,12-hexadecadienal (E10,Z12–16:Ald) and a trace of its (10E,12E)-isomer (E10,E12–16:Ald) in 98:2 ratio. In field experiments, E10,Z12–16:Ald alone attracted male moths, and addition of E10,E12–16:Ald significantly reduced the attractiveness, even at the naturally-occurring ratio. Analysis of the data using a generalized linear mixed model showed that E10,Z12–16:Ald positively contributed to attractiveness, whereas E10,E12–16:Ald did so negatively, and it was concluded that the sex pheromone of N. himachala sangaica consists solely of E10,Z12–16:Ald, bombykal. The negative effect of E10,E12–16:Ald on attractiveness could promote the species-specificity of this single-component pheromone system.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript. This project was supported by Grants-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows and for Young Scientists (Start-up), JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15H06854. This research was in partial fulfillment of a Ph.D. degree (TU) from the University of Tsukuba.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), Ohwashi 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8634, Japan

    Takuya Uehara

  2. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Takuya Uehara & Hiroshi Kitahara

  3. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Shigeru Matsuyama & Hiroshi Honda

  4. Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Koyama Minami, Tottori, 680-8553, Japan

    Hideshi Naka

  5. Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, 184-8588, Japan

    Tetsu Ando

Authors
  1. Takuya Uehara
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  2. Hiroshi Kitahara
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  3. Hideshi Naka
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  4. Shigeru Matsuyama
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  5. Tetsu Ando
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  6. Hiroshi Honda
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Correspondence to Takuya Uehara.

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Uehara, T., Kitahara, H., Naka, H. et al. Single-Component Pheromone Consisting of Bombykal in a Diurnal Hawk Moth, Neogurelca himachala sangaica . J Chem Ecol 42, 517–522 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0714-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0714-y

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