Methyl (E)-6-Nonenoate: a New Mediterranean Fruit Fly Male Attractant12

Several synthesized formulations of substances indentified from volatiles of male Ceratitis Capitata (Wiedemann) were highly attractive to these males in field evaluations. In treatments exposed in Steiner plastic traps or in delta-shaped Jackson cardboard traps, methyl ( E )-6-nonenoate, the least complex of the formulations tested, was as attractive to males as trimedlure, the current standard lure for male Mediterranean fruit flies. Both substances remained attractive much longer when they were applied to cotton wicks placed in perforated polyethylene vial stoppers than when they were placed on cotton wicks not contained in vials. Neither the Z-isomer nor any of 3 positional isomers of methyl ( E )-6-nonenoate tested was attractive to either sex of Mediterranean fruit flies in laboratory bioassays.