Park, S.-C. 1988 . Biology and pheromone-mediated behavior of Matsucoccus thumbergianae in Korea with reference to M. Resinosae in the United States. State University of New York, College of Environmental Science & Forestry 179 pp.

Notes: [Ph.D. thesis, Lawrence P. Abrahamson, Major Professor.] The life history and pheromone-associated behavior of Matsucoccus thunbergianae Miller and Park (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Margarodidae), a previously unknown scale insect, are discussed. M. thunbergianae is a univoltine bisexual species which overwinter in the second instar. Adults emerge in early spring. An apparent obligatory diapause in the first instar was terminated by low temperatures. Newly emerged male adults, termed "quiescent males", usually remained quiescent for 0.5-2.5 days before becoming activated at the onset of photophase. The daily rhythm of male activity generally was coordinated with pheromone release by females, which was usually active between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Virgin females released enough pheromone to attract walking males for up to three days before the amount of pheromone released gradually decreased. Scent trail deposition by females was demonstrated. Mated females apparently used an epidictic pheromone to discourage additional copulation. The chemical structure for the sex attractant pheromone of M. resinosae in the United States, M. matsumurae in China, and M. thunbergianae in Korea were identical. The pheromonal compound has not yet been synthesized, but two pheromone analogues, a positional isomer and its geometric isomer, were produced and bioassayed against M. resinosae males. Both analogues were attractive, but the geometric isomer was less active and had inhibitory effects at high concentrations. Use of multi-component sex attractant pheromones by M. thunbergianae and M. resinosae was suspected based on possible differences in duration of pheromone release for the attraction of flying males and that for the close range attraction of walking males. Two types of male flight takeoff were suggested for M. thunbergianae. Some males actively fly up, but many others jump off the substrate and lose altitude before actively flying up. A preliminary flight period was suspected because males apparently did not respond to pheromone immediately after they launched into flight. The height of male flight varied according to the presence or absence of trees. A hypothetical description of male locomotive behavior from activation to mate finding, with five successive modes, was proposed.