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Identification and Field Evaluation of Attractants for the Cranberry Weevil, Anthonomus musculus Say

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Abstract

Studies were conducted to develop an attractant for the cranberry weevil, Anthonomus musculus, a pest of blueberry and cranberry flower buds and flowers in the northeastern United States. In previous studies, we showed that cinnamyl alcohol, the most abundant blueberry floral volatile, and the green leaf volatiles (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and hexyl acetate, emitted from both flowers and flower buds, elicit strong antennal responses from A. musculus. Here, we found that cinnamyl alcohol did not increase capture of A. musculus adults on yellow sticky traps compared with unbaited controls; however, weevils were highly attracted to traps baited with the Anthonomus eugenii Cano aggregation pheromone, indicating that these congeners share common pheromone components. To identify the A. musculus aggregation pheromone, headspace volatiles were collected from adults feeding on blueberry or cranberry flower buds and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Three male-specific compounds were identified: (Z)-2-(3,3-dimethyl-cyclohexylidene) ethanol (Z grandlure II); (Z)-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexylidene) acetaldehyde (grandlure III); and (E)-(3,3- dimethylcyclohexylidene) acetaldehyde (grandlure IV). A fourth component, (E)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadien-1-ol (geraniol), was emitted in similar quantities by males and females. The emission rates of these volatiles were about 2.8, 1.8, 1.3, and 0.9 ng/adult/d, respectively. Field experiments in highbush blueberry (New Jersey) and cranberry (Massachusetts) examined the attraction of A. musculus to traps baited with the male-produced compounds and geraniol presented alone and combined with (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and hexyl acetate, and to traps baited with the pheromones of A. eugenii and A. grandis. In both states and crops, traps baited with the A. musculus male-produced compounds attracted the highest number of adults. Addition of the green leaf volatiles did not affect A. musculus attraction to its pheromone but skewed the sex ratio of the captured adults towards females. Although the role of plant volatiles in host-plant location by A. musculus is still unclear, our studies provide the first identification of the primary A. musculus aggregation pheromone components that can be used to monitor this pest in blueberry and cranberry pest management programs.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Vera Roth-Kyryczenko, Elizabeth Bender, Marty Sylvia, and Judson Parker for field assistance and to Robert Holdcraft for help with illustrations and tables. Many thanks go to the MA cranberry and NJ blueberry growers who provided field sites. This project was funded by a USDA Northeast IPM Competitive grant (No. 2007-34103-18055 to C. R-S. and A.A.).

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  1. Zsofia Szendrei

    Present address: Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, 439 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, Rutgers University, 125A Lake Oswego Rd., Chatsworth, NJ, 08019, USA

    Zsofia Szendrei & Cesar Rodriguez-Saona

  2. Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 270 Stockbridge Rd./ Fernald Hall, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Anne Averill

  3. USDA, ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural & Veterinary Entomology, 1600-1700 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA

    Hans Alborn

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  1. Zsofia Szendrei
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Correspondence to Zsofia Szendrei.

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Szendrei, Z., Averill, A., Alborn, H. et al. Identification and Field Evaluation of Attractants for the Cranberry Weevil, Anthonomus musculus Say. J Chem Ecol 37, 387–397 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-011-9938-z

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