You are reading a single comment by @JoePablo and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • That’s awesome. Any idea what’s in the pheromone traps? Are they just a blend of a bunch of the normal semiochemicals or species specific? Still hoping to see some hummingbird hawk moths at my dads in Dorset, really fabulous things.

  • Sorry, no idea what the lures are. There is a bit more detail here https://www.angleps.com/pheromones.php . They make them in batches annually and say lures are species specific, but they also note that 'non-intended target species can be drawn to specific lures as well. Would love to know what they actually do to make the pheromones.

    If it warms up later today or tomorrow I'll try a second one I have for Six-belted Clearwing to see if I have any luck with that.

  • Best of luck - amazing what’s out there, although you have to feel for what must be quite a frustrated clearwing.

    From what I can tell most species specific single molecule pheromones are chemically synthesised if described but they’re looking at using volatile natural products from plants and yeasts instead. Not sure how easy it would be to bacterially synthesise these things.

    A lot of insect pheromones and semiochemicals however aren’t species specific per se and consist of a blend of low molecular weight aldehydes and other volatile organic compounds. The tricky thing there is reconstituting them in the right ratio to elicit the desired species specific response.

About

Avatar for JoePablo @JoePablo started