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Home>FFTC Publication Database>Research Highlights>One Chemical Component of an Aggregation Pheromone Released by Bean Bugs Attracts Exclusively a Parasitic Wasp, without Attracting Bean Bugs
One Chemical Component of an Aggregation Pheromone Released by Bean Bugs Attracts Exclusively a Parasitic Wasp, without Attracting Bean Bugs
News source: Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station, Japan
For further information: Applied Entomology and Zoology 32(3), 504-507, 1997, 2001-02-01

Pheromones Attract Parasitoid Wasp

Adult males of bean bug (Riptortus clavatus), an important pest of soybeans, release an aggregation pheromone which attracts both adults (male and female) and nymphs. It also attracts a female wasp (Ooencyrtus nezarae) which parasitizes eggs of bean bugs, and is hence an important natural enemy of bean bugs.

This pheromone was found to be composed of three chemical components. One of these components, (E)-2-hexenil(Z)-3-hexenoate, was confirmed to have attractiveness exclusively to the parasitoid female wasps without attracting bean bugs.

Synthetic Pheromones

In experimental soybean fields treated with the synthetic chemical component, parasitoid female wasps immigrated into the fields earlier than bean bugs, and the population density of wasps was higher than in control plots. This synthetic chemical component, therefore, may be used as a measure for biological control of bean bugs.

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