Effect of Aggregation Pheromones on Efficacy of Cardboard Traps for Sawtoothed Grain Beetle (Coleoptera: Cucujidae)

Male and female sawtoothed grain beetles, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), released on a flat arena were recaptured in corrugated cardboard traps baited with a mixture of the male-produced aggregation pheromones 3(Z),6(Z)-dodecadien-ll-olide, 3(Z),6(Z)-do-decadienolide, and 5(Z),8(Z)-tetradecadien-13-olide (cucujolides) or l-octen-3-ol, which is produced by males and females. Both sexes were slightly more responsive to l-octen-3-ol at low doses than to the cucujolides, but at high doses of l-octen-3-ol the response declined precipitously. When all four pheromones were combined, the sensitivity to l-octen-3-ol at low doses was maintained and the cucujolides overrode the repellency of l-octen-3-ol at high doses. Dose-response curves established that the enhancement of the attraction of the cucujolides was dependent upon dose and that for equivalent performance a trap baited with the four-part mixture would require 100-fold lesson cucujolides than a trap baited with only the cucujolides. Thus, the four-component mixture is highly recommended for monitoring of O. surinamensis in baited traps.