Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Lauxaniidae? - mating (behaviour)

Posted by Kahis on 05-10-2007 23:35
#13

What is known about the pheromones of tephritoid flies? I have seen some pallopterid males collected from traps baited with tortricid (Lepidoptera) pheromones. All males had the aedeagus exposed, so they had clearly died happy :) But only single flies were in each trap - if the pheromone was a strong attractant, I'd expect to see hundreds as the Palloptera species is common. So the tortricid pheromone must be very weakly attractive to the males at least at long distances. Perhaps it smells a bit like a short-range female pheromone - like, perhaps, the stuff in those paired glands :)