H. CERDA (*1); K. MORI (2); T. NAKAYAMA (2) AND K. JAFFE (*3).
(*1) Universidad Simón Rodriguez Apartado Postal 47.925 Caracas
1041-A Venezuela FAX 58-2-6813758
(2) Science University of Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
(*3) Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolivar,
Apartado 89.000 Caracas 1080 A, Venezuela. E.m. kaffe@usb or kjaffe@conicit.ve
Cosmopolites sordidus is an important pest on banana plantation worldwide. We present evidence for the activity of a male released aggregation pheromone which is active only if host plant odors are also present. Sordidine, a compound produced by the weevil as a part of the aggregation pheromone, does not attract insects when it is presented without the host plant tissue, but increases more thenfold the attraction of adult weevils when it is presented simultaneously with the host plant tissue in field traps. We suggest that sordidine may be used as a part of a system for mass trapping and monitoring these insect.
Aknowledgments.The work was financed by the project S1-93-006 from Simon Rodriguez University and AF/1958-1 from International Foundation for Science IFS to H. Cerda and by the project QF-36 of BID-CONICIT to Klaus Jaffe.