Identification of presumed pheromone blend from australasian predaceous bug,Oechalia schellenbergii (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Oechalia schellenbergii is one of the most common predatory insects in Australia and the islands of the South Pacific. Adult males of this predaceous “true bug” collected during March near Gatton, Queensland, Australia, had a pair of enlarged exocrine glands opening underneath their wings that presumably produce an attractant pheromone. The two major components of the secretion are 3-methylenehexyl acetate and 9-hydroxygeranyl diacetate [2,6-dimethyl-2(E),6(E)-octadien-1,8-diol diacetate].