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Researchers Discover Sex Potion To Ensnare Mealybug Pests

Date:
April 25, 2005
Source:
USDA/Agricultural Research Service
Summary:
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to entice male pink hibiscus mealybugs (PHMs) to congregate. That leaves the pesky insects--which attack more than 200 species of ornamental, vegetable and citrus crops--open to detection.
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Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to entice male pink hibiscus mealybugs (PHMs) to congregate. That leaves the pesky insects--which attack more than 200 species of ornamental, vegetable and citrus crops--open to detection.

A team of researchers led by chemist Aijun Zhang at the ARS Chemicals Affecting Insect Behavior Laboratory (CAIBL), Beltsville, Md., discovered the two compounds that together make up the female PHM's sex pheromone.

The compounds provide a timely method with which to monitor and ultimately reduce infestations. PHMs escape conventional insecticides partly because their outer coatings, or cuticles, are resistant to topical penetration.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Riverdale, Md., are using the PHM-pheromone blend as a sex lure to track mealybug pest infestations in Florida and California. APHIS is also using the pheromone blend to chart the effectiveness of "biological controls," or natural enemies used to combat agricultural pest species.

The ARS scientists are now working with cooperators to improve both the process for producing the PHM pheromone and the method for using the compounds to control infestations. Such methods include technologies to disrupt the PHMs' mating activities, as well as to attract them on a mass scale for removal.

The discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


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Materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Researchers Discover Sex Potion To Ensnare Mealybug Pests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 April 2005. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050421233023.htm>.
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. (2005, April 25). Researchers Discover Sex Potion To Ensnare Mealybug Pests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050421233023.htm
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Researchers Discover Sex Potion To Ensnare Mealybug Pests." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050421233023.htm (accessed March 29, 2024).

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