Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence for a Sex Pheromone in the Wasp Bephratelloides pomorum

Field experiments showed that males of the seed-feeding, Neotropical wasp Bephratelloides pomorum are strongly attracted to females. That this attraction was semiochemically mediated was demonstrated by both the response of male antennae to the whole-body extract of females and by behavioral bioassays. In the field, males were captured in traps baited with female thoraces, but not with other body parts (abdomen and head). Volatiles collected from the headspace of female wasps or whole-body extracts, concentrated and transferred to cotton plugs, elicited a full sequence of sexual behavior in male wasps. The attraction of males to female-baited traps showed a peak of activity at noon, but in indoor bioassays male responded to female extracts even at night.