ARS | Publication request: A Sex Attractant for Trapping Crambus cypridalis (Lepidoptera: crambidae)

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: December 31, 2011
Publication Date: March 30, 2012
Citation: Landolt, P.J., Roberts, D. 2012. A Sex Attractant for Trapping Crambus cypridalis (Lepidoptera: crambidae). Florida Entomologist. 95(1):194-195.

Interpretive Summary: Proper management of insect pests of agricultural crops often includes traps used for determining the presence and pest status of a pest. Researchers at the USDA, ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory and Washington State University tested compounds as lures for trapping several moth pests of wheat. They determined that (Z)-11-hexadeceny acetate and Z-11 hexadecenal are attractive to Crambus cypridalis, a moth pest of grasses, and can be used a a trap lure for monitoring the moth. This information provides a new lure that can be used to detect and monitor the presence and abundance of the moth in wheat fields.

Technical Abstract: Traps in eastern Washington wheat fields, baited with a sex attractant for the moth of the wheat head armyworm Dargida diffusa (Walker), also captured numbers of males of a type of sod webworm, Crambus cypridalis. When the two components of the sex attractant were tested singly versus together in a trap, nearly all C. cypridalis captured were in traps baited with the combination of (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate and (Z)-11-hexadecenal, indicating synergy of the two compounds as attractants. Traps baited with this sex attractant and maintained through the growing season captured C. cypridalis onlu in late September. This is the first demonstration of a sex attractant for C. cypridalis which may be a minor pest of wheat.