‘Using insect biology against themselves’: New type of pesticide uses caterpillar pheromones to stop pests from mating

The caterpillars are the larvae of the fall armyworm moth, a planetary crop invader. The annual toll of their attacks is at least $300 million for farmers in the U.S., and billions of dollars around the globe.

But now scientists from the University of Missouri are on the edge of a new frontier in pest control: They are filling fields with a chemical — not a pesticide — that replicates the pheromones of the moth, overwhelms its senses and stops it from mating, essentially using the insect’s own biology against it. The system could reshape pest control in the U.S., and be even more useful in countries where subsistence farming is common and access to genetically modified crops isn’t.

Female moths have glands that emit the pheromone, a compound specific to the species. They pump out the pheromone into the air at night, and male moths use pheromone receptors in their antennae to sense the chemicals and find the female. Then they mate. Females can produce up to 2,000 eggs in their five-day lifespan.

The researchers’ experiment is designed to thwart the moths’ romance: Plastic pheromone strips are attached with a binder clip to wooden stakes in the ground. The strips release clouds of pheromones so intense the males can’t pinpoint a mate.

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