The tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is one of the most important pests of tomato worldwide. However, in spite of its tremendous economic importance, the success of environmentally friendly measures to control the pest is still limited. Study of physiological and behavioral parameters that affect pheromone production has provided useful information for pest management. Our results show no clear difference in pheromone production by females over the period from 2 h before to 2 h after the scotophase. However, pheromone production was clearly dependent on female age, with young females producing the highest amount of each pheromone component 10 days after emergence. In the presence of the host plant (physical contact and olfaction of the plant volatiles), virgin and mated females produced higher amounts of the major component of the pheromone (TDTA) than those in the absence of plant and those devoid of olfaction (antennectomized) but in physical contact with the plant. In electrophysiological experiments, TDTA elicited slightly lower responses on male antennae than the pheromone mixture. When stimulated at certain time intervals after the first exposure to TDTA, male antennae became more sensitive to the stimulus (sensitization effect). For the first time in an insect of the family Gelechiidae, we have found that females are able to detect their own pheromone (autodetection). Altogether, our results may represent a step forward in the knowledge of the chemical communication of this important pest.

Since bluetongue outbreaks occurred in november 2007 in northern Spain, an intensive trapping program was carried out to study the diversity and abundance of the Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) species. Eleven sheep farms and seven natural habitats distributed throughout the Basque country region were sampled using UV light CDC traps between 2008-2011. A total of 348,685 Culicoides specimens belonging to 52 species were collected during 1,480 trappings in 24h periods. An updated checklist of these 52 species (including four new records for the Iberian peninsula) is provided from the Basque country. The most abundant species in sheep farms were the two sibling species of the obsoletus complex (81.8% of the total catches): C. obsoletus (Meigen) and C. scoticus Downes and Kettle. Culicoides lupicaris Downes and Kattle was the next most abundant taxon collected in farms (9.7% of the total). Few specimens of Culicoides imicola Kieffer, the bluetongue vector in Mediterranean Basin and some specimens of Culicoides nubeculosus (Meigen), an important candidate of BTV transmission were collected in northeast and northwest farms, respectively. In natural ecosystems, three species, Culicoides festivipennis Kieffer, Culicoides alazanicus Dzhafarov and Culicoides brunnicans Edwards, comprised 48.5% of the total captures. Culicoides obsoletus/C. scoticus was present throughout the year and even during the winter days in temperate Atlantic areas (Gipuzkoa, Biscay) whereas no catches occurred in winter at the southern farms of Alava, where the climate is much colder in that season. The majority of the species were active from March to November with maximum peaks of catches in summer. Most Culicoides obsoletus/C. scoticus specimens were collected outdoors (65.9%). The study shows greater occurrence and abundance of obsoletus and pulicaris complex in sheep farms and in lesser extent in natural ecosystems. Data about diversity, distribution and seasonal dynamics are also reported improving the knowledge of these Culicoides species in terms of surveillance and prevention for future bluetongue outbreaks. (Résumé d'auteur

We present evidence favoring the use of (E)-pityol as an aggregation pheromone in Pityophthorus pubescens (Marsham). (E)-Pityol was detected in effluvia of male and female P. pubescens, and antennae of both sexes responded to (E)-(+)-pityol in electroantennogram assays. In two-choice olfactometer tests, males significantly preferred (E)-(+)-pityol and (E)-(±)-pityol to blank controls at doses of 1, 10, and 100ng, whereas females only showed a preference for (E)-pityol at the 1ng dose.