Does pheromone-based aggregation of codling moth larvae help procure future mates?

In field and laboratory bioassay experiments, we show that larvae of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, cocoon in aggregations. This aggregation behavior of fifth-instar larvae prior to pupation and arrestment of eclosed adult males by mature female pupae seems to allow mating as soon as an adult female ecloses. This synchronous timing is realized because foraging fifth-instar are attracted by cocoon-spinning larvae and prepupae, but not by pupae, and because male pupae develop faster than female pupae. Eclosed males are arrested by sex pheromone that disseminates from female pupae even before adult females eclose. Communication in C. pomonella within and among developmental stages (larva-larva and pupa-adult, respectively) may be a strategy to procure mates. If so, our data add to current knowledge that attraction of mates in insects relies on communication among adults, or pupae and adults.