Sex Pheromone of the Comstock Mealybug, Pseudococcus comstocki KUWANA

Bioassay Method, Male Response-habits to the Sex Pheromone

Abstract

By wrapping with double-folded tissue papers the pumpkins in which the comstock mealybug had been present, only the male nymphs crawled into the papers. By this method, the male insects could be isolated from the females. The male adults crawled out from the papers and began to take wing soon after a lamp was lit up. They responded to the sex pheromone and flew to the sticky slide-glass pheromone trap. Male adults mainly landed on a site 10-20cm apart from the pheromone source and then crawled to the source. The colour of the pheromone trap influenced the number of male catches. The order was as follows: red=dark green=black>green>yellow>white.