CHEMICALLY MEDIATED OVIPOSITIONAL BEHAVIORS OF THE EUROPEAN CORN-BORER, OSTRINIA-NUBILALIS (LEPIDOPTERA, PYRALIDAE)

The volatile plant sesquiterpenoids farnesene, nerolidol, and farnesol were tested to determine their effect on European corn borer, Ostrini a nubilalis, oviposition during the first six nights of the adult stag e. Adult European corn borers were released into cages designed to enc ourage oviposition on eight glass plates randomly arranged on top of t he cage: four coated with either 80 mu g/cm(2) farnesene, nerolidol, o r farnesol, and four coated with the solvent methylene chloride. The s etup was used as a binary choice test. Farnesene was preferred by fema les because they deposited significantly more egg masses on plates coa ted with the compound. Nerolidol had no effect, Farnesol, by contrast, deterred oviposition: the number of egg masses was significantly lowe r on plates covered with that compound. These data show that structura l modification at a single terminal functional group in these compound s affects the ovipositional behavior of European corn borer females.