CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION IN HELIOTHINE MOTHS .7. CORRELATION BETWEEN DIMINISHED RESPONSES TO POINT-SOURCE PLUMES AND SINGLE FILAMENTS SIMILARLY TAINTED WITH A BEHAVIORAL ANTAGONIST

Addition of (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16:Ac) into a normally att ractive binary blend of Heliothis virescens pheromone components resul ted in a suppression of upwind flight and source location by males. Ma le response was reduced even at the lowest dosages of Z11-16:Ac tested but upwind flight and source location were most clearly reduced when the loading of Z11-16:Ac reached 10% or more of the (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald) loading (the major component present in the binary blend ). Similar patterns of suppression in response were noted when Z11-16: Ac was added to binary blends of pheromone components at both 10 and 1 00 mu g loadings of Z11-16:Ald. Males in casting flight following upwi nd flight in a mechanically generated pulsed plume, responded to the i nterception of a subsequent, single binary-blend filament by making a toward-source upwind surge. Responses of males to a single filament th at was tainted by a level of Z11-16:Ac that had allowed some reduced l evel of upwind flight and source location to occur in the previous plu me experiments were diminished compared with their control counterpart s. Analysis of the flight tracks revealed that the surges in response to single tainted filaments were stunted because males made fewer sign ificant changes in course angles steered, airspeeds generated, and in the tempo of counterturns executed.