Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Flemingovo nám. 2, 166 10 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
Laboratory walking bioassays were carried to test the hypothesis of pheromone-mediated communication of the European oak bark beetle, Scolytus intricatus. Oak twigs, branches, female and male infested twigs in maturation feeding and female making galleries in oak branches were analyzed for reactions of the European oak bark beetle females and males. Females feeding in twigs for maturation and females making maternal galleries were highly attractive to both sexes of S. intricatus. Volatiles emitted from female infested oak twigs and branches captured on Porapak-Q and then bioassayed showed similar results. Porapak-Q captured volatiles from healthy and attacked twigs and branches were analyzed on GC-MS. In the complex mixtures n-alkanes, 1-alcohols, n-aldehydes, monoterpenic hydrocarbons, monoterpenic ketones, spiroacetals, aromatic ethers and sesquiterpenic hydrocarbons were identified, in different quantities and proportions.