Attraction of Planococcus ficus males to racemic and chiral pheromone baits: flight activity and bait longevity

The vine mealybug (VM), Planococcus ficus (Signoret), is an Afrotropical species, whose worldwide populations probably originated from the Mediterranean basin. It was introduced to the Americas during the second half of the 20th century (Ben-Dov 1994; Gill 1994). Until the early 1980s, this pest was frequently misidentified as the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), as both Planoccocus spp. are morphologically very similar (Cox 1989). The sex pheromone of VM was identified as (S)-lavandulyl senecioate [(S)-LS] (Hinkens et al. 2001), further stressing the distinction between the latter species and P. citri whose sex pheromone is (1R)-cis-2,2-dimethyl-3-isopropenylcyclobutanemethanol acetate (Bierl-Leonhardt et al. 1981). The VM was collected from plants of 12 families (Ben-Dov 1994). In the Mediterranean, it reach high densities on grapevine (Vitis vinifera) and fig (Ficus carica), while both hosts are infested also by P. citri. VM cause direct damage by colonizing grape bunches, soiling them with a mixture of honeydew, sooty mold and scale bodies (Zehavi 2005). The mealybug also transmits grape viral diseases which deteriorate the heath of the vines and lower the quality of grapes (Tanne et al. 1989). Fruit moths, vinegar flies and fungal diseases cause further injury and the infested stem and arms accelerate the damage caused by the caterpillars of carpenter moths (Z. Mendel, A. Protasov and S. Ben Yehuda, unpublished data). Despite the rich fauna of natural enemies in Israeli vineyards, a satisfactory control of VM populations is