Sex Pheromone of Conophthorus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in a Coastal Stand of Western White Pine (Pinaceae)

Abstract

An isolated stand of western white pine, Pinus monticola Dougl. ex D. Don, on Texada Island (49°40'N, 124°10'W), British Columbia, is extremely valuable as a seed-production area for progeny resistant to white pine blister rust, Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch. (Cronartiaceae). During the past 5 years, cone beetles, Conophthorus ponderosae Hopkins (= C. monticolae), have severely limited crops of western white pine seed from the stand. Standard management options for cone beetles in seed orchards are not possible on Texada Island. A control program in wild stands such as the one on Texada Island requires alternate tactics such as a semiochemical-based trapping program. Females of the related species, Conophthorus coniperda (Schwarz) and Conophthorus resinosae Hopkins, produce (+)-pityol, (2R,5S)-2-(1-hydroxyl-1-methylethyl)-5-methyl-tetrahydrofuran, a sex pheromone that attracts males of both species (Birgersson et al. 1995; Pierce et al. 1995). The host compound a-pinene significantly increases attraction of male C. coniperda to pityol-baited traps in stands of eastern white pine, Pinus strobus L. (de Groot et al. 1998).

Citation

Miller, Daniel R.; Pierce, Harold D., Jr.; de Groot, Peter; Jeans-Williams, Nicole; Bennett, Robb; Borden, John H. 2000. Sex Pheromone of Conophthorus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in a Coastal Stand of Western White Pine (Pinaceae). The Canadian Entomologist 132: 243-245 (2000)