DEVELOPING A NOVEL DETECTION AND MONITORING SYSTEM FOR THE GLASSY-WINGED SHARPSHOOTER

• Author(s): Leal, Walter; Zalom, Frank; Phillip, Phil;
• Abstract: Pheromones and other semiochemicals are invaluable tools for quarantine and monitoring insect populations. Attractants are critically needed to detect early invasions of the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS). Once detected using current technologies, their population densities may be too high to achieve eradication or effective control. Although it is unlikely that chemical communication is the major means of sex recruitment in the GWSS, plant-derived chemical signals are utilized for host location. The primary objective of this project is to develop attractants for detection and monitoring of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata. The goal is going to be pursued by the extraction, isolation, identification and synthesis of leaf compounds from plants that attract sharpshooters and other leafhoppers. Synthetic compounds, originally identified in plants, as well as other candidate compounds, will be tested in the field in order to evaluate their potential for monitoring population levels of the GWSS.
• Publication Date: Dec 2001
• Journal: 2001 Pierce's Disease Research Symposium