Direcció General d'Agricultura i Ramaderia, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29282. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029282. Epub 2012 Jan 4.
In the course of evolution butterflies and moths developed two different reproductive behaviors. Whereas butterflies rely on visual stimuli for mate location, moths use the 'female calling plus male seduction' system, in which females release long-range sex pheromones to attract conspecific males. There are few exceptions from this pattern but in all cases known female moths possess sex pheromone glands which apparently have been lost in female butterflies. In the day-flying moth family Castniidae ("butterfly-moths"), which includes some important crop pests, no pheromones have been found so far.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a multidisciplinary approach we described the steps involved in the courtship of P. archon, showing that visual cues are the only ones used for mate location; showed that the morphology and fine structure of the antennae of this moth are strikingly similar to those of butterflies, with male sensilla apparently not suited to detect female-released long range pheromones; showed that its females lack pheromone-producing glands, and identified three compounds as putative male sex pheromone (MSP) components of P. archon, released from the proximal halves of male forewings and hindwings.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides evidence for the first time in Lepidoptera that females of a moth do not produce any pheromone to attract males, and that mate location is achieved only visually by patrolling males, which may release a pheromone at short distance, putatively a mixture of Z,E-farnesal, E,E-farnesal, and (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadienol. The outlined behavior, long thought to be unique to butterflies, is likely to be widespread in Castniidae implying a novel, unparalleled butterfly-like reproductive behavior in moths. This will also have practical implications in applied entomology since it signifies that the monitoring/control of castniid pests should not be based on the use of female-produced pheromones, as it is usually done in many moths.
在进化过程中，蝴蝶和飞蛾发展出两种不同的繁殖行为。蝴蝶依靠视觉刺激来寻找配偶，而飞蛾则使用“雌性召唤加上雄性诱惑”系统，其中雌性释放远距离性信息素来吸引同种雄性。这种模式也有一些例外，但在所有已知的情况下，雌性飞蛾都拥有性信息素腺体，而这些腺体显然在雌性蝴蝶中已经消失。在昼行性飞蛾科（Castniidae，“蝴蝶蛾”）中，包括一些重要的作物害虫，迄今为止尚未发现任何信息素。
方法/主要发现：我们使用多学科方法描述了 P. archon 求偶过程中的步骤，表明视觉线索是唯一用于寻找配偶的线索；表明这种飞蛾的触角形态和精细结构与蝴蝶非常相似，雄性感器显然不适合探测雌性释放的远距离信息素；表明其雌性缺乏产生信息素的腺体，并鉴定出三种化合物作为 P. archon 的雄性性信息素（MSP）成分，从雄性前翅和后翅的近端释放。
结论/意义：这项研究首次在鳞翅目昆虫中提供了证据，证明飞蛾的雌性不产生任何吸引雄性的信息素，而雄性通过巡逻来实现交配，雄性可能会在短距离内释放一种信息素，推测是 Z,E-法呢醛、E,E-法呢醛和（E,Z）-2,13-十八碳二烯醇的混合物。这种行为长期以来被认为是蝴蝶所独有的，可能在 Castniidae 中广泛存在，这意味着飞蛾中存在一种新的、无与伦比的类似蝴蝶的繁殖行为。这也将在应用昆虫学中具有实际意义，因为这意味着对 Castniidae 害虫的监测/控制不应基于雌性产生的信息素来进行，就像在许多飞蛾中通常所做的那样。
