Prionic acid: An effective sex attractant for an important pest of sugarcane, Dorysthenes granulosus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae)

Male Dorysthenes granulosus (Thomson, 1860) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae) were caught in traps baited with racemic 3,5-dimethyldodecanoic acid (prionic acid) during field screening trials in China that tested known cerambycid pheromones. This species is an important pest of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.). In follow-up dose-response trials, plastic sachets loaded with 1 or 0.1 mg of prionic acid were equally attractive to male beetles, whereas lower doses were no better than controls. Two commercial prionic acid lures also were attractive, suggesting that traps baited with prionic acid can be rapidly incorporated into integrated pest management programs targeting this major pest. It is likely that this compound is a major component of the female-produced sex pheromone of D. granulosus because this species is in the same subfamily as Prionus californicus Motschulsky, 1845, the species from which prionic acid was originally identified.