1-Octanol emitted by Oecophylla smaragdina weaver ants repels and deters oviposition in Queensland fruit fly.

ABSTRACT: Humans have used weaver ants, Oecophylla smaragdina, as biological control agents to control insect pests in orchards for many centuries. Over recent decades, the effectiveness of weaver ants as biological control agents has been attributed in part to deterrent and oviposition inhibiting effects of kairomones produced by the ants, but the chemical identity of these kairomones has remained unknown. We have identified the kairomone responsible for deterrence and oviposition inhibition by O. smaragdina, providing a significant advance in understanding the chemical basis of their predator/prey interactions. Olfactometer assays with extracts from weaver ants demonstrated headspace volatiles to be highly repellent to Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni. Using electrophysiology and bioassays,

SUBMITTER: Kempraj V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9492660 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature