Sex pheromone components of mulberry looper, Hemerophila atrilineata Butler (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)

(6Z-9S,10R)-Epoxy-octadecene (SR-1) and (3Z, 6Z-9S, 10R)-epoxy-octadecadiene (SR-2) are sex pheromone components of the mulberry looper (MBL), Hemerophila atrilineata Butler. Compounds extracted from female MBL pheromone glands were identified by coupled gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and GC-mass spectrometry. In field experiments in China, SR-2, RS-2, or both combined were hardly attractive, but SR-2 in combination with SR-1 attracted significant numbers of MBL males. Synergistic behavioral activity of SR-1 plus SR-2, but not of corresponding antipode mixtures, indicates enantiospecificity of MBL pheromone communication. Because blends of racemic and enantiospecific (SR) 1 plus 2 were similarly attractive, racemic 1 plus 2 may have potential for mass trapping or confusion of MBL males in commercial mulberry plantations