Liquido, NJ; Khrimian, AP; DeMilo, AB; McQuate, GT

Journal of Applied Entomology [J. Appl. Entomol.], vol. 122, no. 5, pp. 259-264, Jul 1998

Reports questioning the safety of methyl eugenol (1,2-dimethoxy-4-[2-propenyl] benzene) stimulated us to develop and test synthetic analogues that may be used as alternative attractants for oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), males. Attraction to one propyl-substituted and six monofluorine-substituted methyl eugenol analogues were compared with attraction to methyl eugenol in field bioassays with both laboratory-reared and wild oriental fruit fly males. The attractiveness of the test compounds to oriental fruit fly males was compared using two parameters: number of adults caught per trap and number of adults caught per mg of compounds released in traps. Based on these two parameters (E)-1,2-dimethoxy-4-(3-fluoro-2-propenyl)benzene was consistently as attractive as methyl eugenol to both laboratory-reared and wild oriental fruit fly males. With further studies to determine optimum release rates, (E)-1,2-dimethoxy-4-(3-fluoro-2-propenyl)benzene may potentially replace methyl eugenol for survey, detection, delimitation of infestation and eradication of oriental fruit fly populations.