SESIID PHEROMONE INCREASES SQUASH VINE BORER (LEPIDOPTERA, SESIIDAE) INFESTATION

Results presented here are the 1st report of synthetic lepidopteran fe male sex pheromone treatments increasing the infestation of a crop. Sm all squash, Cucurbita pepo (L.), plots treated with 5 mg of a pheromon e blend of 99:1 E,Z,-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol acetate and Z,Z,-3, 13-oct adecadien-1-ol acetate were significantly more infested by squash vine borer, Melittia cucurbitae (Harris), than control plots. In electroan tennogram tests, antennae of both mated and virgin females responded s ignificantly to squash vine borer pheromone blend and components. Infe stations of squash vine borer are a result of female immigration from feral populations, so release of pheromones for mating disruption or m onitoring in squash fields may not stop establishment of squash vine b orer populations and may in fact attract females.