LABORATORY AND FIELD-TESTS WITH THE SYNTHETIC SEX-PHEROMONE OF 3 MATSUCOCCUS PINE BAST SCALES

Matsunone, (2E,4E)-4,6,10,12-tetramethy1-2,4-tridecadien-7-one, is the primary sex pheromone of Matsucoccus resinosae, M. thunbergianae, and M. matsumurae. The synthetic compound was tested in the laborotory and in field tests with all three species, and significantly more males responded to synthetic matsuone than to controls. The attraction of synthetic matsuone to males in field tests was not significantly different from that of virgin females at the same matsuone release rate. An analog of matsuone previously shown to be biologically active was also tested in the laboratory with M. resinosae and M. thunbergianae, and field tested with M. resinosae. The active analog required a dose approximately 100 times greater than matsuone to yield maximum laboratory bioassay response, and in field tests, attraction was not significantly different from controls at doses at which matsuone was significantly attractive.