Epicuticular hydrocarbons of the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

The epicuticular hydrocarbons of the larval, pupal and adult stages of the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) are analysed. Dramatic changes are observed between the stages studied. Adult hydrocarbons are mostly saturated, with a predominance of 1–4 methyl‐branched straight carbon skeletons of 37–47 atoms; the major components are isomeric mixtures of internally branched trimethylderivatives of C39, C37 and C41 carbon backbones. By contrast, very small amounts of methyl‐branched components are detected in the pupae, although straight chain hydrocarbons of 23–35 carbons are the prevailing structures (70.7 ± 3.4%) with n‐C29 and n‐C27 as the major components. Unsaturated hydrocarbons (29.0 ± 3.5%) of similar chain lengths elute by gas chromatography of epicuticular extracts as complex mixtures of mono‐, di‐ and trienes; with the degree of unsaturation increasing with chain length. This is the first report of very long chain unsaturated hydrocarbons in cuticular extracts of a larval lepidopteran (93.3 ± 0.6% of the lipid components), with chain lengths in the range 37–53 carbons and up to four double bonds; the major component being C49:3, which co‐elutes with C49:4 and C49:2.