Evaluation of pheromone traps and lures for trapping male Agriotes sputator (Coleoptera: Elateridae) beetles in Eastern Canada

Abstract

In North America, monitoring for Agriotes spp. click beetles typically has been done using Vernon beetle traps baited with bubble cap sex pheromone lures. This trap and lure are no longer produced commercially and a new trap, the Vernon pitfall trap, and lure design are used now for both invasive Agriotes and native pest species. Herein we compare the 2 trapping methods for Agriotes sputator (L.) (Coleoptera: Elateridae), and provide a calibration factor between them to allow comparison of survey results using the different methods. When deployed for the entire swarming season, Vernon pitfall traps fitted with the new capsule lures collect 0.7× as many A. sputator as Vernon beetle traps fitted with the bubble cap lures, and Vernon beetle traps fitted with capsule lures collect 0.5× as many beetles as Vernon beetle traps fitted with bubble cap lures. Unlike bubble cap lures, however, capsule-style lures need to be primed (maintained at room temperature for 3 wk) before deployment in the field, or else their initial attractiveness will be limited and trap catches will not be representative of populations present at the time. In addition, results from field studies indicate that these capsule lures deplete over the swarming season, and depending on the trapping objective (e.g., mass trapping) may need to be replaced after 5 to 6 wk of deployment. Increasing the lure load to 2× or 4× the regular 40 µL geranyl butanoate, or the capsule container size from 1.0 to 2.5 mL, did not significantly increase the number of A. sputator collected.