Candidate sex pheromones of the New World screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax

Authors

D.A. Carlson, USDA-ARS
Dennis Berkebile, USDA-ARSFollow
S.R. Skoda, USDA-ARSFollow
K. Mori, Fuji Flavor Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
S. Mihok, Russell, Ontario, Canada

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

March 2007

Comments

Published in Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2007) 21, 93–96.

Abstract

Five novel homologous acetate derivatives of long-chain secondary alcohols and a related ketone were tested for their efficacy as contact mating stimulants for Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Full copulatory behaviour at a high percentage was found in tests with racemic 6-acetoxy-19-methylnonacosane at 2.5 – 20 μg using fertile males from three strains. Males of two strains responded nearly as well to 7-acetoxy-15-methylnonacosane, but an older strain first colonized in 1992 did not respond to this compound. Few or no copulatory responses were obtained to the other secondary alcohol acetates and a related ketone. These two acetate derivatives are the first sex pheromones identified in a calliphorid fly. The threshold of response was also tested, but could not be pinpointed.