Abstract
The identification of sex attractants was undertaken for potential use in the study of two biological control agents against Rubus spp. in Hawaii. Attractants for Croesia zimmermani (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and Schreckensteinia festaliella (Lepidoptera: Heliodinidae) were developed by field screening a variety of putative lures in sticky traps, based on attractants for congeneric species. Croesia zimmermani was most attracted to E11-tetradecen-1-ol and E11-tetradecenal, while S. festaliella was attracted to (10,12)-(E,E)-hexadecadienal alone. Development of monitoring systems based on sex attractants can enable better evaluation of biocontrol programmes, and provide cost-effective information on presence/absence, density, phenology, synchrony with the host, dispersal rate and other useful parameters.
Acknowledgments
We thank Roddy Nagata and Wendell Sato for their help in the field. Mohsen Ramadan and Pingjun Yang shared their unpublished studies with us. We thank Hugh Gourlay (Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand) for facilitating the project. This research was funded by the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, and underpinned by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (CO6X0301).