USE OF CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS IN BARK BEETLE PARASITOID TAXONOMY - A STUDY OF ROPTROCERUS-XYLOPHAGORUM (RATZEBURG) (HYMENOPTERA, TORYMIDAE)FROM THE UNITED-STATES, EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA
Ke. Espelie et al., USE OF CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS IN BARK BEETLE PARASITOID TAXONOMY - A STUDY OF ROPTROCERUS-XYLOPHAGORUM (RATZEBURG) (HYMENOPTERA, TORYMIDAE)FROM THE UNITED-STATES, EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA, Comparative biochemistry and physiology. B. Comparative biochemistry, 113(1), 1996, pp. 193-198
Cuticular hydrocarbons of adult Roptrocerus xylophagorum (= eccoptogas
tri) (Ratzeburg) from California and Georgia were isolated and charact
erized by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The hydrocarb
on compositions of individuals from both locations were very similar w
ith the major components of n-alkanes, midchain-methylbranched alkanes
, terminally methylbranched alkanes and 3,7-dimethylbranched alkanes.
Hydrocarbons of the females were shorter (average chain length 28.7) t
han the hydrocarbons recovered from the males (31.5). Cuticular hydroc
arbons of R. xylophagorum females from Belgium, Austria and Switzerlan
d were primarily alkenes, n-alkanes and alkadienes, whereas the major
components of males from Belgium were n-alkanes, alkenes and terminall
y methylbranched alkanes. Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of R. xylopha
gorum collected in Europe were very different from those of R. xylopha
gorum from the United States but very similar to Roptrocerus mirus col
lected in Switzerland. R. xylophagorum adults from Australia that were
progeny of those introduced from the United States had cuticular lipi
d profiles similar to to those of the parasitoids collected in North A
merica.