Elsa Borges da Silva, Taiadjana Fortuna, José Carlos Franco, Leonor Campos, Manuela Branco  - Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal

The attraction of Anagyrus sp. nov. near pseudococci (Girault) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) to the female sex pheromone of its major hosts, the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), and the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae), was investigated. The response of the parasitoid to the pheromone was tested in the field, with pheromone traps set in citrus and fig orchards and vineyards, and in the laboratory, using static air olfactometer bioassays. In both the field and laboratory experiments, the female wasps were attracted to the sex pheromone of P. ficus, (S)-lavandulyl senecioate. The wasps did not respond significantly to the sex pheromone of P. citri. Despite the similarity between the structures of (S)-lavandulyl senecioate and (S)-lavandulyl isovalerate, the parasitoid did not respond to the latter compound.