Does male pheromone effectively inhibit competition among courting true armyworm males (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)?

Abstract

True armyworm males Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.) flying upwind toward a 300-μg source of synthetic female pheromone in a wind tunnel were exposed to one of three stimuli: a freshly excised hairpencil (male pheromone gland), a solvent-rinsed hairpencil or a small paintbrush. The proportion of males touching the lure, the time and flight trajectory taken to reach it, and the time spent in attempted copulation with it did not differ significantly between treatments. In a second experiment, males flying to a 30-μg lure were exposed to either a freshly excised hairpencil or a paintbrush. Again, behavioural measures did not differ significantly between treatments, indicating that males are not inhibited or repelled by male pheromone. © 1988.