Entomology mission to Riau Sakti United Plantations (RSUP) Pulau Burung coconut plantation, Sumatra, Indonesia, 10 to 21 February 2003 : 1. Seeking and demonstrating chemical communication by sex pheromones in Sufetula sp. adults (Lepidoptea: Crambidae: Spilomelinae). 2. Search for allelochemical substances

The first work on Sufetula sp. sex pheromones was carried out in December 1997 using adult females (R. Philippe, 1998). Larva samples were brought back to CIRAD in Montpellier and the 45 pupae and 57 adults obtained were sent to P. Zagatti at the INRA chemical mediators laboratory in Versailles. Due to winter conditions, few of the female imagos survived. A second sample of larvae was brought back by X. Bonneau in March 1998, but identification of a pheromone from the females proved fruitless. Some surviving males were used for screening by electroantennography, and a few results were obtained. Three substances inducing good antenna activity were tested in the field using a proposed protocol (Philippe, 1998). Since that report was drafted, two distinct species of Sufetula sunidesalis have been detected (Philippe, 2000). The sampling and preliminary analyses carried out during this mission involved new tools such as SPME sampling. This work, carried out in association with Dr. B. Frérot and C. Malosse from the INRA chemical mediators laboratory in Versailles, has so far failed to detect a pheromone compound or any signalling behaviour in the insect. However, an experiment, which was not conducted during this mission, will be carried out to try and identify Sufetula sp. pheromone compounds by in vitro incubation of the pheromone gland.