Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, UPRESA-CNRS 6035, Faculté des Sciences, Parc Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France.
Little is known about the asparagus fly, Platyparea poeciloptera, a serious pest of asparagus stems in Europe. The calling periodicity, mating behaviour and pheromone timing emission of this temperate, univoltine, monophagous fly were observed, and the interactions between the two sexes were studied. Early in the afternoon isolated calling males emit pheromone, and attract virgin females. One-day-old females, having mature oocytes at emergence, are less attracted by male emission than 2-, 4- or 8-day-old females. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was used to trap male sexual pheromone. One peak is very characteristic of a calling male. The corresponding compound, previously identified as CH3-CHOH-CO-C3H5, was 10 times less abundant in one-day-old calling males than in older calling males. This pheromone seems to be emitted by the two lateral abdominal pouches, an extract of which attracts females.