Four sympatric tortricid (Lepidoptera) species in New Zealand, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker), Planotortrix octo (Dugdale), Cydia pomonella (L.), and Cydia succedana (Denis and Schiffermüller), were studied for the morphology of antennal sensilla and the chemical communication systems using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electro-antennogram (EAG), gas chromatography-electroantenno-detection (GC-EAD), single sensillum recording (SSR) and field tests. Antennal flagella of adult have four main types of olfactory sensilla (s.); s. trichodea, s. basiconica, s. auricillica, and s. coeloconica in the four species. The s. trichodea subtype I was longest and male-specific in all the species. The antennae of males of the four species showed characteristic higher EAG, GC-EAD and SSR responses to 12, 14-carbon acetates or alcohol. Some of the selected chemicals selected from the electrophysiological experiments caused significant antagonistic or agonistic activities to the sex pheromone of each species in the field. In this study, the four species showed distinct chemical communication systems according to sub-family, which possibly serve as a factor in species isolation.

Chemical communication is very important for survival and reproduction in insects. The successful survival of insects depends to a large extent on the ability to detect and recognize environmental signals. We can manage the insect pest populations by eco-friendly methods by understanding the chemical communication systems which lie among the host trees, pests, and natural enemies. Persimmon is the largest fruit tree in acreage in Korea. Many insect pests are attacking various part of persimmon. Major insect pests of persimmon in Korea are Riptortus pedestris, Halyomorpha halys, Plautia stali as hemipterans, Stathmopoda masinissa, Euzophera batangensis, Conogethes punctiferalis as lepidopterans, There are also some minor insect pests including Homona magnanima, Apolygus spinolae, Synanthedon tenuis, bark beetles et cetera. Some of these produce sex pheromones to attract conspecific females or produce aggregation pheromones to gather conspecific individuals. Interestingly, some insect pests are using the semiochemicals of other species, pheromones or floral scents, as kairomones to find hosts or oviposition sites. These relationships in chemical communications at persimmon ecosystem will be discussed using our research results and others so far.

My dear colleagues, First of all, I wish to thank the Korean Society of Applied Entomology for the highest honor of selecting me as the winner of the Korean Entomology Prize of 2016 and would like to express my profound gratitude to the founder of this prize, Dr. J. S. Hyun. I know its establishment has encouraged us to dedicate ourselves in the tenure of entomological advancement of Korea adding a fancy brick in the foundation of biological research. Entomology is a propelling subject alliancing many kin-subjects on nematodes, arachnids, myriapods, and snails and slugs and so on. We are proud to be entomologists as insects are the most successful animals sharing almost two-third of the bio-sphere and are the leading bio-mass of the earth, as well in the meantime, maintaining our ecosystem well is allowing us to catch our breath in a healthy fashion. Not only these, insects have also helped scientists settle many medical, hereditary, evolutionary, ecological, sociological and even the engineering problems. Korean entomological investigations are flourishing speedily since the establishment of our society in 1962. During the late 20th century, Korean entomology was mainly focused on knocking down of agricultural insect pests with agro-chemicals and beneficial organisms. However at present, the Korean entomology is addressing a wide array of issues from ecology, biology, medicine, physiology, biochemistry, systematics, and not least from the food security (as we are foreseeing the use of insects in our table as human diet). The number of Korean entomologists is continuously rocketing up contributing exponential number of quality publications on entomological issues. Without their dedicated efforts, the green and white revolution of Korean agriculture might not have achieved. I hope Korean entomological works will go beyond the boundary to touch the horizon as we have systematic technology generation and transfer systems, as we have fostering technologies to support our investigations and as we have the will power to do something differently, all in the welfare of mankind both locally and globally. As for me, I continue to remain active, focusing on entomological research and development. I feel truly overwhelmed, overwhelmed by gratitude, gratitude to this society, and gratitude to all of you. I pray for all of us, that we together do our bests for the development of Korean entomology, and more for the biological science of Korea. To the society, my colleagues, I thank you all sincerely from the inner core of my heart. This is realizing me a huge responsibility. I am truly and honestly thrilled to be here with this award. Thank you for this great honor!