Evidence of pheromonal constancy among sexual and asexual females in a population of fall cankerworm,Alsophila pometaria (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).

The compounds (Z,Z,Z)-3,6,9-nonadecatriene (I), (Z,Z,Z,E)-(II), and (Z,Z,Z,Z)-3,6,9,11-nonadecatetraene (III) have been implicated as components of the female sex pheromone of the fall cankerworm. Chromatographie determination of the proportions of these compounds in individual females of sympatric asexual and sexual reproductive forms of the species, with concurrent analysis of the electrophoretic profiles of the same females, showed that the I: II: III proportion of compounds was constant across electrophoretically differing asexual genotypes and between these and the sexual form. Life-history characters, in contrast, typically show great variation among these genetic groups. The results indicate that pheromonal constancy is maintained in a reproductive system that is theoretically vulnerable to selective pressures that would lead to heterogeneity in the species' pheromonal communication channel.