THE ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE CUTICULAR SEX-STIMULANT PHEROMONE OF THE TSETSE GLOSSINA-PALLIDIPES AUSTEN (DIPTERA, GLOSSINIDAE)

The sex-stimulant contact pheromone present in the cuticle of female tsetse G. pallidipes Austen was extracted with hexane, separated by preparative gas chromatography and identified by mass spectrometry. The aphrodisiac, consisting of 13,17-dimethylpentatriacontane and 15,19-dimethylpentatriacontane, is present in cuticular extracts of 1-wk-old females and, in lower amounts, in teneral females, but it is almost absent in males of all ages. Full copulatory responses to hexane-washed dead males treated with the 2 dimethylpentatriacontane isomers were induced in 10- to 20-day-old adult male G. pallidipes. The practical applications of this discovery, i.e., towards the mass-rearing and control of G. pallidipes, are discussed in detail.