Mediterranean fruit fly^1/: Laboratory and field evaluations of synthetic sex pheromones^2/

Abstract

Abstract Fifteen acids present in the natural sex pheromones produced by male Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), were separated by gas‐liquid chromatography and identified. Then combinations of the acids and of previously identified pheromones were bioassayed for attraction to virgin female Mediterranean fruit flies in an outdoor olfactometer. However, when 2 of the most promising combinations were tested in the field, they attracted large numbers of males, but no females. In the laboratory, females reared from fruit infested in the field responded to the synthetic pheromone. No explanation is available for these anomalous results. Key words: Mediterranean fruit flysynthetic sex pheromones