Response specificity of male pink bollworm moths to different blends and dosages of sex pheromone.

Male pink bollworm,Pectinophora gossypiella, were tested in a sustained flight tunnel to 119 blend-dosage combinations of the sex pheromone components, (Z,Z)- and (Z,E)-7,11-hexadecadienyl acetates, which are released by conspecific females in a 61∶39 ratio. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to define an area of peak attraction. Within this area males were most sensitive at lower dosages to ratios around the natural blend of components, but exhibited peak response levels at higher dosages to a wide range of blends, with a shift in blend preference to higherZ,Z isomer ratios at the highest dosage tested (10 mg). Male response specificity appeared to be influenced exclusively by a threshold for initiation of upwind flight, and not arrestment of upwind flight. The results are compared with those of another species, the Oriental fruit moth.