@article{hosseini_goldansaz_menken_wijk_roessingh_groot_2017, title={Field Attraction of Carob Moth to Host Plants and Conspecific Females}, volume={110}, ISSN={["1938-291X"]}, DOI={10.1093/jee/tox218}, abstractNote={Abstract The carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller; Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a devastating pest in high-value crops around the world. An efficient sex pheromone attractant is still missing for the management of this pest, because the major pheromone component is unstable. Host plant volatiles attract herbivore insects and have shown to have good potential to be exploited as alternatives or supplements to sex pheromones.To explore this possibility in carob moth, we assessed the attraction of moths to the volatiles of mature pistachio and different fruit stages of pomegranate, alone and in combination with virgin females, using sticky delta traps in pomegranate orchards of Iran. Traps baited with mature pomegranates, whether uncracked or cracked, infested or uninfested, caught significantly larger numbers of male and both mated and virgin female carob moths than unbaited traps. Traps baited with headspace extract of cracked pomegranate only caught mated females, while mature pistachio only attracted males. Pomegranate flowers, unripe pomegranate, and headspace extract of pistachio did not attract moths. Traps baited with cracked fruit caught more mated females than traps baited with uncracked fruit. Males were attracted similarly to traps baited with cracked-infested pomegranate as to traps baited with virgin females alone. Interestingly, the combination of cracked pomegranate and virgin female enhanced the attraction of virgin females.Together, our results show that volatiles from cracked pomegranates alone or in combination with female sex pheromone have great potential for application in pest management programs of carob moth.}, number={5}, journal={JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY}, author={Hosseini, Seyed Ali and Goldansaz, Seyed Hossein and Menken, Steph B. J. and Wijk, Michiel and Roessingh, Peter and Groot, Astrid T.}, year={2017}, month={Oct}, pages={2076–2083} }
 @article{van wijk_heath_lievers_schal_groot_2017, title={Proximity of signallers can maintain sexual signal variation under stabilizing selection}, volume={7}, ISSN={2045-2322}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17327-9}, DOI={10.1038/s41598-017-17327-9}, abstractNote={AbstractHow sexual communication systems can evolve under stabilizing selection is still a paradox in evolutionary biology. In moths, females emit a species-specific sex pheromone, consisting of a blend of biochemically related components, to which males are attracted. Although males appear to exert strong stabilizing selection on female pheromone, these blends seem to have evolved rapidly, as evidenced by ~120,000 moth species. Here we propose and test a “proximity model” wherein two females that vary in their relative attractiveness to males, can both benefit from calling in close proximity to each other. In a field study, we show that (1) artificially selected unattractive females can achieve mating rates comparable to attractive females if they signal in close proximity to attractive females, and (2) attractive females benefit from higher mating rates when signalling in close proximity to unattractive females. We propose that frequency-dependent behavioural and spatial interactions can sustain signal variation within populations even when these signals are under stabilizing selection.}, number={1}, journal={Scientific Reports}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={van Wijk, Michiel and Heath, Jeremy and Lievers, Rik and Schal, Coby and Groot, Astrid T.}, year={2017}, month={Dec} }
 @article{hosseini_van wijk_ke_goldansaz_schal_groot_2016, title={Experimental evidence for chemical mate guarding in a moth}, volume={6}, ISSN={2045-2322}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep38567}, DOI={10.1038/srep38567}, abstractNote={AbstractIn polyandrous species, males seek to maximize their reproductive output by monopolizing their mate. Often the male transfers substances to the female that suppress her sexual receptivity or antagonize the behavior of competing males; both are usually transferred in seminal fluids and represent forms of chemical mate guarding. In moths, more long-range female sex pheromones have been identified than in any other animal group, and males often display with close-range sex pheromones, yet odor-based post-copulatory mate guarding has not been described in moths so far. We tested the hypothesis that the male sex pheromone in the noctuid moth Heliothis virescens perfumes the female and functions as an anti-aphrodisiac. Indeed, virgin females perfumed with male pheromone extract, or with its main component, mated significantly less than control virgin females, and this effect persisted for two successive nights. This chemical mate guarding strategy was disadvantageous for H. virescens females, because the reproductive output of twice-mated females was significantly higher than that of once-mated females. Since the female and male sex pheromones are biosynthetically related in this and other moth species, chemical mate guarding may also impose selection pressure on the long-range female sex pheromone channel and consequently affect the evolution of sexual communication.}, number={1}, journal={Scientific Reports}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Hosseini, Seyed Ali and van Wijk, Michiel and Ke, Gao and Goldansaz, Seyed Hossein and Schal, Coby and Groot, Astrid T.}, year={2016}, month={Dec} }