Pheromone Study of Acarid Mites XVII. : Identification of 2-Hydroxy-6-Methyl Benzaldehyde as the Alarm Pheromone of the Acarid Mite Tyrophagus perniciosus (Acarina:Acaridae), and Its Distribution among Related Mites

Abstract

2-Hydroxy-6-methyl-benzaldehyde was identified as the alarm pheromone of the acarid mite, Tyrophagus pernicious, which is known as a pest attacking spinach culture and cucurbitaceous plants in the field and also in greenhouses. The compound, which was one of the major components of the hexane extract, was active at 10 ppm. Although this compound has been identified not only inmites, Acarus siro and Caloglyphus rodriguezi, but also int he common eucalypt longicorn Phoracantha semipunctata, this is the first report on its bilogical significance. Other than T. peniciosus, the compound is sporadically districuted among other species of the genus Tyrophagus, namely, four strains of T. putrescentiae among the five investigated and one of two strains of T. neiswanderi. It was not detected in T. similis.