IDENTIFICATION OF A NOVEL MOTH SEX-PHEROMONE IN ERIOCRANIA-CICATRICELLA (ZETT) (LEPIDOPTERA, ERIOCRANIIDAE) AND ITS PHYLOGENETIC IMPLICATIONS

Extracts from different body parts of adult female Eriocrania cicatricella (Zett.) were tested for electrophysiological activity on conspecific male antennae. Extracts from the Vth abdominal segment, containing a pair of exocrine glands, elicited the largest electroantennographic response when compared to extracts of other body parts. Female extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography with simultaneous flame ionization and electroantennographic detection (EAD). The EAD active peaks were identified as (Z)-4-hepten-2-one, (2R)-heptane-2-ol, and (2R)-(Z)-4-hepten-2-ol by coinjection on a gas chromatography and by comparison of mass spectra with those of synthetic standards. In field tests, a blend of these three pheromone components was highly attractive to conspecific males, and a subtractive assay confirmed that the unsaturated alcohol is the major pheromone component, whereas no definite behavioral activity could be assigned to the ketone or the saturated alcohol. A bait containing the two alcohols with S-configuration was attractive to male E. sparrmannella (Bosc), whereas no males of E. cicatricella were found in these traps. The sex pheromone compounds in E. cicatricella are chemically similar to pheromones reported in Trichoptera and they are produced in homologous glands.