Male-Produced (-)-δ-Heptalactone, Pheromone of Fruit Fly Rhagoletis batava (Diptera: Tephritidae), a Sea Buckthorn Berries Pest

The plantation area of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is expanding in many European countries due to increasing demand for berries, thus creating suitable conditions for the rapid expansion of the fruit fly Rhagoletis batava, a pest of economic importance. To decrease insecticide use, effective means for pest population monitoring are required, including the use of pheromones. Male fruit flies emit (-)-delta-heptalactone as revealed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses of samples obtained using headspace methods. The two enantiomers of delta-heptalactone were synthesized using enantioselective synthesis. A gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection analysis of both stereoisomers revealed that only (-)-delta-heptalactone elicited electrophysiological responses, whereas no signal was registered to (+)-delta-heptalactone in fruit flies of either sex. In the field assay, traps baited with (-)-delta-heptalactone caught significantly more fruit flies compared with the unbaited traps. Our results are the first to demonstrate the efficacy of (-)-delta-heptalactone as a bait for trapping R. batava. As a behaviorally attractive compound to R. batava fruit flies of both sexes, (-)-delta-heptalactone is attributed to aggregation pheromones. This is the first report of an aggregation pheromone within the genus Rhagoletis.