BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES OF MALE HELIOTHIS-ARMIGERA (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE) MOTHS IN A FLIGHT TUNNEL TO COMBINATIONS OF COMPONENTS IDENTIFIED FROM FEMALE SEX-PHEROMONE GLANDS

Six compounds were identified from gland extracts of the cotton bollworm, Heliothis armigera (Hubner): (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald), (Z)-9-hexa-decenal (Z9-16:Ald), hexadecanal, (Z)-11-hexadecenol (Z11-16:OH), (Z)-7-hexadecenal (Z7-16:Ald), and (Z)-9-tetradecenal (Z9-14:Ald). Each of the compounds that were identified was examined for its ability to elicit sexual responses from male moths in a flight tunnel. Males flew upwind to Z11-16:Ald alone, but greater levels of copulatory responses were evoked with the addition of 2.5% Z9-16:Ald to the Z11-16:Ald. Addition of hexadecanal to the binary mixture had no effect in raising the behavioral response of the males in the flight tunnel. The effect of Z7-16:Ald on male flight depended on the loading. The addition of 1% of this component to 2 mg of the binary mixture reduced levels of copulatory response, but the same addition (1 %) to 10 μg of the binary mixture increased copulatory response. The addition of 79-14:Ald or Z11-16:OH to the binary mixture reduced behavioral responses of males. High loadings of the binary mixture (200-2000 μg) were better than a low loading (10 μg) in eliciting response of males. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.