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Abstract

The invention disclosed relates to the detection of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptra: B-prestidae) and in particular to the use of contact sex phenomones therefor. Analysis of the elytral hydrocarbons from male and female emerald ash borer, that were freshly emerged vs. sexually mature (>10 days old) revealed a female-specific compound, 9-methyl-pentacosane (9-Me-C₂₅), only present in sexually mature females. This material was synthesized by the Wittig reaction of 2-decanone with (n-hexadecyl)-triphenylphosphonium bromide followed by catalytic reduction to yield racemic 9-Me C₂₅, which matched the natural compound by GC/MS (retention time and EI-mass spectrum). In field bioassays with freeze-killed sexually mature A. planipennis females, feral males spent significantly more time in contact and attempting copulation with unwashed females than with females that had been washed in n-hexane to remove the cuticular hydrocarbons. Hexane-washed females to which 9-Me-C₂₅ had been reapplied elicited similar contact time and percentage of time attempting copulation as unwashed females, indicating that 9-methyl-pentacosane is a contact sex-pheromone component of A. planipennis. This is the first contact sex pheromone identified in the Buprestidae.

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First Claim