Alpha-acaridial a female sex pheromone from an alarm pheromone emilting mite Rhizoglyphus robini.

The female sex pheromone of Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède (Astigmata: Acaridae) was identified as alpha-acaridial [2(E)-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)-butenedial], which stimulated males sexually and enhanced the frequency of male mounting behavior. Although a hexane extract of females manifested alarm pheromone activity against tested males due to the presence of the alarm pheromone neryl formate, silica gel column fractions containing alpha-acaridial evoked increased mounting behavior by males at a dose of 0.1 female equivalent. Synthetic alpha-acaridial at a dose of 10 ng showed a peak of activity as a sex pheromone, with a convex dose-response relationship. Its content was determined to be 388 +/- 244 ng per female and 163 +/- 97 ng per male by GC. This is the first time that two pheromones (the alarm pheromone neryl formate, and the sex pheromone alpha-acaridial) have been demonstrated to be components of the same opisthonotal gland secretion in astigmatid mites. A mechanism for the appropriate expression of the two pheromones by the mites under different conditions is proposed.