Field response of the pine sawfly Neodiprion sertifer to the pheromone (2S,3S,7S)-diprionyl acetate and its stereoisomers

All eight optical isomers of 3,7-dimethyl-2-pentadecanyl acetate (diprionyl acetate), of high optical purity (> 97.4%), were tested for a behavioural activity on male pine sawflies, Neodiprion sertifer (Geoffr.) (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae), in northern Europe. Males were strongly attracted to (2S,3S,7S)-diprionyl acetate. Addition of more than 0.1% of the (2S,3R,7R)-isomer reduced the catch and above 2% the attraction was completely inhibited. Contrary to what has been reported for North American and Japanese populations, so significant synergistic effect of small amounts of the (2S,3R,7R)-isomer could be demonstrated. The effects of addition of the other six optical isomers alone or in combinations, were also studied, but none was found to be a synergist. The (2S,3R,7S)-isomer had a weak inhibitory effect, and completely inhibited the attraction to the (2S,3S,7S)-isomer when applied in about equal amounts as the attractant. In some cases a reduction in catch was noted when other isomers were tested, but this could be attributed to the very small amounts of the inhibitory (2S,3R,7R)-isomer present in these isomers.