Bv. Burger et al., CONSTITUENTS OF WING GLAND AND ABDOMINAL HAIR-PENCIL SECRETIONS OF MALE AFRICAN SUGARCANE BORER, ELDANA-SACCHARINA WALKER (LEPIDOPTERA, PYRALIDAE), Journal of chemical ecology, 19(10), 1993, pp. 2255-2277
In addition to trans-3,7-dimethyl-6-octen-4-olide (eldanolide), vanill
in, and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, identified by French workers in the win
g gland and abdominal hair pencil secretions of the male African sugar
cane borer, Eldana saccharina, we have, in an earlier note, reported t
he presence of several other terpenoid, aromatic, and unbranched-chain
compounds such as, (Z)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienoic acid, 6,10, 14-tr
imethyl-2-pentadecanol, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzyl alcohol, 1-octadecan
e thiol, 16-hexadecanolide, and 18-octadecanolide in these secretions.
In the present paper experimental details and spectral evidence suppo
rting the identification of these compounds, as wen as the identificat
ion of (Z)-9-hexadecenal and cis-3,7-dimethyl-6-octen-4-olide (cis-eld
anolide), are reported. Using electroantennography it was found that m
ale and female antennae reacted approximately equally strongly to both
secretions. This result was confirmed in analyses of the secretions u
sing coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography and it was found
that male as well as female antennae responded to eldanolide. Vanillin
, substituted phenols related to vanillin, and some oxygenated monoter
penes elicited weak responses in male and female antennae. In some ana
lyses 6,10, 14-trimethyl-2-pentadecanol, present in the secretions of
the insect, gave a strong antennal response. The results obtained in d
ynamic and static headspace determinations showed that several of the
organic compounds present in the glandular secretions are released in
detectable quantities and are present in widely varying quantitative r
atios in the effluvia of individual calling male moths.