![Photo: Banana-spotting bug, Amblypelta lutescens, on a mango.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509201853im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/bananabug090313.jpg)
ARS researchers are studying synthetic pheromones
that may offer a way to control the banana-spotting bug, which damages a
variety of fruit and nut crops. Photo courtesy of D. Astridge, The State of
Queensland, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
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![For further reading](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509201853im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/For-further-reading.gif)
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ARS, Australian Researchers Team Up against Fruit
Bugs
By Dennis
O'Brien
March 13, 2009 Controlling two species of
semitropical bugs that damage a variety of fruit and nut crops is the objective
of a joint research project between the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and
Australian researchers.
Entomologist
Jeffrey
Aldrich and chemist
Ashot
Khrimian, both with the
ARS
Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., are
evaluating a synthetic pheromone they produced for use in traps.
The researchers had previously identified what they suspect are distinctly
different pheromones emitted by the banana spotting bug Amblypelta
lutescens and the fruit spotting bug A. nitida to attract mates.
Aldrich and Khrimian are now evaluating a compound that they believe replicates
the pheromone released by A. lutescens males to attract females.
Scientists also hope to eventually develop a compound to attract A.
nitida.
The work is part of a cooperative research project between ARS and the
Queensland
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries. The Australians are funding
the research because the insects are major pests in tropical and semitropical
areas, attacking mangoes, pecans, papaws, cashews and avocadoes. The insects
are unpredictable, impossible to see and produce rotten spots that make the
fruit unmarketable.
As part of the agreement, Australian scientists are capturing A.
lutescens, putting them in glass containers and pulling air over them and
into filters to extract the gases given off. They use solvents to extract the
compounds from the filters. The ARS researchers are comparing the chemical
composition of those compounds with the compound they have synthesized.
The effort could also help U.S. farmers. The insects belong to a group
called the leaf-footed bugs that are members of the coreid family. Scientists
have yet to identify attractant pheromones for any coreids.
Coreids also are an emerging threat because of the proliferation of
genetically modified crops. Genetically modified corn, cotton, soybeans and
other crops target specific pests and have reduced the need to spray
insecticides, but periodic spraying kept coreids in check.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.