A Floral-Derived Compound Attractive to the Tephritid Fruit Fly Parasitoid.pdf

A Floral-Derived Compound Attractive to the Tephritid Fruit Fly Parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Eric Rohrig John Sivinski Peter Teal Charles Stuhl Martin Aluja Received: 30 October 2007 /Revised: 20 December 2007 /Accepted: 23 January 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract Many adult hymenopteran parasitoids, even host- feeding species, consume the nectar of flowering plants. Previous field studies had identified plants attractive (Lobularia maritima L.) and unattractive (Spermacoce verticillata L) to certain opiine braconids (Hymenoptera). Under laboratory conditions, Diachasmimorpha longicau- data (Ashmead), a parasitoid of tephritid fruit fly larvae and representative opiine, responded in flight tunnels to L. maritima but not to S. verticillata. Volatile chemicals of the two flowers were collected and analyzed by using capillary gas liquid chromatography and mass spectral analysis. Acetophenone was isolated from L. maritima but not from S. verticillata. In flight tunnels, D. longicaudata were exposed to 10 concentrations (doses) of acetophenone. Female parasitoids showed a significant attraction to several acetophenone doses, with concentrations of 25 and 50 ng the most attractive. No odor source, either floral or floral-derived, was attractive to male parasitoids. Reliable trapping systems for parasitoid species, particularly species such as D. longicaudata used for augmentative biological control, would be a valuable monitoring tool. At present, there are few, if any, florally derived synthetic lures for attracting hymenopteran parasitoids. Keywords Acetophenone . Opiinae . Traps . Biological control . Flowers Introduction Understanding the population dynamics of target pests and their natural enemies is critically important in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) (Kogan 1998; Suckling et al. 2002). Attraction and trapping techniques are among the simplest means of determining pest and natural enemy distrib