EAG Responses of Adult <i>Lobesia botrana</i> Males and Females Collected from <i>Vitis vinifera</i> and <i>Daphne gnidium</i> to Larval Host-Plant Volatiles and Sex Pheromone

Abstract

We analysed electroantennogram (EAG) responses of male and female adults of the European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana (Denis et Schiffermüller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) collected as larvae from grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) and flax-leaved daphne (Daphne gnidium L.). The host-plant odorants tested were either V. vinifera-specific [1-octen-3-ol, (E)-β-farnesene, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene], D. gnidium-specific (2-ethyl-hexan-1-ol, benzothiazole, linalool-oxide, ethyl benzanoate), or were shared by both host-plants (linalool, methyl salicylate). Sex pheromone compounds were also tested. The male response to the major pheromone component (E7,Z9-12:Ac) was higher than to any other stimuli, whereas the response to the minor pheromone components (E7,Z9-12:OH and Z9-12:Ac) was not different from the response to the plant odorants. The female response to pheromone was lower or not different from that to plant odorants. Methyl salicylate elicited a higher response in females and (E)-β-farnesene elicited a higher response than several other plant odorants in both sexes. Non-significant interactions between host-plant odorant and sex indicated an absence of sex specialization for host-plant volatile detection. The lack of a significant interaction between plant volatiles and larval host-plants suggested that there was no specialization for plant-volatile detection between V. vinifera and D. gnidium individuals.

Keywords

• electroantennogram
• host plant
• volatiles
• Tortricidae
• sex