Insect attractants definition

The use of food-based or fermenting lures has a definite place in control operations. Disadvantages of these materials for detection include lack of specificity (traps fill with many kinds of insects), attraction over only a short distance 90) rapid deterioration (especially of fermenting lures), and frequently inconsistent performance. Still, such lures are useful for detection when no other effective lure is available. 

Anthocyanins are among the most important groups of plant pigments. They are present in almost all higher plants and are the dominant pigments in many fruits and flowers, giving red, violet, or blue color. They play a definite role in attracting animals in pollination and seed dispersal. They may also have a role in the mechanism of plant resistance to insect attack. 

After the discovery of the first insect sex attractant bombykol [(10 , 12Z)-10,12-hexadecadien-l-ol] by Butenandt and coworkers,1 the term pheromone was defined by Karlson and Llischer in 1959.2 The term was derived from the Greek pherein (carry or transfer) and horman (stir up or excite). Pheromones are substances that are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction, for example, a definite behavior or a developmental process. 

This chapter follows analyses of odor dispersal (Elkinton and Card6, Chapter 3) and chemo-orientation in walking insects (Bell, Chapter 4) and refers to the definitions and concepts discussed therein. Important reviews of flying orientation to chemical sources include those of Farkas and Shorey (1974), Kennedy (1977, 1982), Kennedy et al. (1981), Bell and Tobin (1982), and the discussion of the concepts of attraction and arrestment by Kennedy (1978). 

At the present time there would seem no definitely proven example of a terpenoid serving as an oviposition lure, but recently it was shown [709] that the triterpenoid cucurbitacins act as feeding attractants to phytophagous insects attacking plants of the Cucurbitaceae, which suggests that other higher terpenoids may also be found to possess this hitherto unsuspected activity. 

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