Major sex pheromone components of the Australian gum leaf skeletonizer Uraba lugens: (10E,12Z)-hexadecadien-1-yl acetate and (10E,12Z)-hexadecadien-1-ol.

Two sex pheromone components of the gum leaf skeletonizer, Uraba lugens (Lepidoptera: Nolidae), recently established in New Zealand, were identified. Gas chromatography (GC) electroantennographic detection analyses of female pheromone gland extracts gave three compounds that consistently elicited antennal responses. Chemical analyses, using GC and GC-mass spectrometry, in conjunction with 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione and dimethyldisulfide derivatizations, identified these compounds as (10E,12Z)-hexadecadien-1-yl acetate (E10,Z12-16:Ac), (10E,12Z)-hexadecadien-1-ol (E10,Z12-16:OH), and (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-yl acetate (Z11-16:Ac). A trapping trial in Queensland, Australia, in 2002, indicated that a blend of the two major components E10,Z12-16:Ac and E10,Z12-16:OH could attract gum leaf skeletonizer males. In the same trial, E10,Z12-16:Ac alone trapped large numbers of an unidentified nolid, Nola spp. Further trials in Auckland, New Zealand established that these two components were sufficient and necessary for trap catch of males; adding minor gland components, (10E,12E)-hexadecadien-1-yl acetate (E10,E12-16:Ac), Z11-16:Ac, or octadecan-1-ol (18:OH), to the two-component lure did not result in increased trap catches. Behavioral observations and gland analyses of the Auckland population revealed that female moths begin calling soon after emergence, with peak calling and pheromone production occurring 7 hr into the scotophase. Analysis of gland extract at two-hourly intervals during the first activity period showed that the ratio of E10,Z12-16:Ac to E10,Z12-16:OH (mean of 86: 14, respectively) and pheromone titer were fairly constant. No qualitative or quantitative differences in pheromone components were detected between gland extracts from Tasmanian univoltine and Auckland bivoltine populations of U. lugens.