Abstract
When feeding on rolled oats, male square-necked grain beetles,Cathartus quadricollis (Guér.), produced the aggregation pheromone (3R,6E)-7-methyl-6-nonen-3-yl acetate, for which the trival name “quadrilure” is proposed. The pheromone was highly attractive to both sexes in a two-choice, pitfall olfactometer modified to retain responding beetles by placing a food stimulus (an oat flake) in the glass vials containing the experimental and control stimuli. TheS enantiomer of the pheromone was inactive. Males also produced small amounts of (E)-7-methyl-6-nonen-3-one, (E)-7-methyl-6-nonen-3-ol, and (6E)-7-methyl-3-propyl-2,6-nonadienyl acetate, but these compounds were inactive in the laboratory bioassay. Segregated males and females both produced (R)-(−)-1-octen-3-ol, which by itself was repellent to both sexes but did not diminish beetle response to the aggregation pheromone.
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Coleoptera: Cucujidae.
Research supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Strategic Grant G1039 and Operating Grants A3881 and A3706.
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Pierce, H.D., Pierce, A.M., Johnston, B.D. et al. Aggregation pheromone of square-necked grain beetle,Cathartus quadricollis (Guér.). J Chem Ecol 14, 2169–2184 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01014023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01014023