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Identification of Host Fruit Volatiles from Domestic Apple (Malus domestica), Native Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) and Introduced Ornamental Hawthorn (C. monogyna) Attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella Flies from the Western United States

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Abstract

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests apple (Malus domestica) and hawthorn species (most notably the downy hawthorn, Crataegus mollis) in the eastern USA. Evidence suggests that the fly was introduced into the western USA sometime in the last 60 years. In addition to apple, R. pomonella also infests two species of hawthorns in the western USA as major hosts: the native black hawthorn (C. douglasii) and the introduced ornamental English hawthorn, C. monogyna. Apple and downy hawthorn-origin flies in the eastern USA use volatile blends emitted from the surface of their respective ripening fruit to find and discriminate among host trees. To test whether the same is true for western flies, we used coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and developed a 7-component apple fruit blend for western apple-origin flies, an 8-component black hawthorn fruit blend for flies infesting C. douglasii, and a 9-component ornamental hawthorn blend for flies from C. monogyna. Crataegus douglasii and C. monogyna-origin flies showed similar levels of upwind directed flight to their respective natal synthetic fruit blends in flight tunnel assays compared to whole fruit adsorbent extracts, indicating that the blends contain all the behaviorally relevant fruit volatiles to induce maximal response levels. The black and ornamental hawthorn blends shared four compounds in common including 3-methylbutan-1-ol, which appears to be a key volatile for R. pomonella populations in the eastern, southern, and western USA that show a preference for fruit from different Crataegus species. However, the blends also differed from one another and from domesticated apple in several respects that make it possible that western R. pomonella flies behaviorally discriminate among fruit volatiles and form ecologically differentiated host races, as is the case for eastern apple and hawthorn flies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mike Chong at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, for the synthesis of DMNT. We thank Tracy Arcella, Stewart Berlocher, Scott Egan, Andrew Forbes, Glen Hood, Dave Costello, H. W. Jackson, and Jim Stevens for help in collecting fruit and fly samples, thoughtful discussion, and/or assistance in helping us prepare the manuscript for publication. We thank Blair Wolfley, Washington State University, Vancouver, and Clark County, WA General Services, for providing storage and rearing facilities. We acknowledge Meralee Nash for collection of fruit and rearing of larvae from Puyallup. We thank Callie Musto, Kathy Poole, and Paula Fox for maintaining the flies received from Notre Dame and Yakima, and Harvey Reissig, Cynthia Smith, and Dave Combs for use of the Geneva, New York, apple maggot colony. The research was supported by grants to J.L.F. and C.E.L. from the National Science Foundation (#0614378) to J.L.F. from the USDA, and to W.L.Y. from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and Washington State Commission on Pesticide Registration.

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  1. Dong H. Cha

    Present address: USDA-ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA, 98951, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, NYS Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, 14456, USA

    Dong H. Cha & Charles E. Linn Jr

  2. USDA-ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA, 98951, USA

    Wee L. Yee & Robert B. Goughnour

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46656, USA

    Sheina B. Sim, Thomas H. Q. Powell & Jeffrey L. Feder

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  1. Dong H. Cha
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Correspondence to Charles E. Linn Jr.

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Cha, D.H., Yee, W.L., Goughnour, R.B. et al. Identification of Host Fruit Volatiles from Domestic Apple (Malus domestica), Native Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) and Introduced Ornamental Hawthorn (C. monogyna) Attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella Flies from the Western United States. J Chem Ecol 38, 319–329 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0087-9

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