• Silk, Peter J.
  Pheromone Research Group, New Brunswick Research and Productivity Council
  
• Kuenen, L.P.S.
  Pheromone Research Group, New Brunswick Research and Productivity Council
  

This paper reviews the sex pheromone chemistry and pheromone-mediated behavior of the spruce budworm and related coniferophagous (Choristoneura) budworms. In C. fumiferana, temporal changes in pheromone-gland monounsaturated fatty acids (pheromone precursors) enable the prediction of the primary sex pheromone components. This technique may also be applicable for predicting additional pheromone components. Tetradecanal (14:Ald), previously shown to enhance close-range precopulatory behavior, lowers the threshold of response by males for upwind flight to a pheromone-component source. Spruce budworm males maintain upwind flight to 95:5 (E/Z)-1, 12-pentadecadiene (diolefin analog) after initiating upwind flight to a primary-component pheromone source (95:5 E/Z11-14:Ald). This is the first demonstration of apparently normal male flight responses to a pheromone analog.