Abstract
Male mountain pine beetles,Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, produced ipsdienol [97.0% ± 0.3S-(+)] and myrcenol (90.3% ± 4.0E) when exposed to myrcene vapors. Females which were exposed to myrcene vapors did not produce any ipsdienol, but did produce low levels of myrcenol (98.0% ± 0.7E). Neither sex produced detectable levels of ipsdienol or myrcenol when fed for 24 hr on lodgepole pine,Pinus contorta var.latifolia Engelmann. The sex-specific conversion of myrcene to ipsdienol and myrcenol suggests that these compounds may have behavioral significance within the species. In addition, the S-(+)-ipsdienol produced by maleD. ponderosae probably functions as a repellent allomone againstIps pini (Say).
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Research supported in part by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada, Operating Grants A3881, A3785 and A0851, Strategic Grant G1039, and a Postgraduate Scholarship to D.W.A. Hunt.
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Hunt, D.W.A., Borden, J.H., Pierce, H.D. et al. Sex-specific production of ipsdienol and myrcenol byDendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) exposed to myrcene vapors. J Chem Ecol 12, 1579–1586 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01020265
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01020265