Abstract
Gas chroinatography of hexane extracts of 3-day-old virgin A.frontella adults revealed a branched saturated hydrocarbon present only in females. This compound was isolated by argentation chromotography and preparative GC, identified by GC and GC-MS as 3,7-dimethylnonadecane, and subsequently synthesized. Three-day-old virgin females contained 54.1 ± 3.5 ng (± SEM;N = 48) of 3,7-dimethylnonadecane. Male cadavers do not elicit male courtship behavior, but when treated with ∼ 18 ng of 3,7-dimethylnonadecane they were as attractive as cadavers of 3-day-old virgin females. Black cotton knots were less attractive than male cadavers when treated with 3,7-dimethylnonadecane, but all bioassays indicated that this compound is an important semiochemical modulating male mating behavior.
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Carriére, Y., Millar, J.G., McNeil, J.N. et al. Identification of female sex pheromone in alfalfa blotch leafminer,Agromyza frontella (Rondani)(Diptera: Agromyzidae). J Chem Ecol 14, 947–956 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01018785
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01018785