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Tribolium aggregation pheromone: monitoring, range of attraction and orientation behaviour of T. castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

D. Obeng-Ofori  and
T.H. Coaker
D. Obeng-Ofori
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
T.H. Coaker
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Abstract

Adult male Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) secrete an aggregation pheromone that is attractive to both sexes. The responses of T. castaneum to different pheromone concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0 mg/septa) were tested in the laboratory. In general, pheromone-baited pitfall and probe traps were over 50% more effective than unbaited traps. A curvilinear relationship between numbers trapped and pheromone concentration indicated that 2.0 mg of pheromone per trap elicited an optimum response. The proportion of marked beetles released in 2.5 m × 0.3 m × 0.4 m trough, filled with wheat and caught by unbaited probe traps, declined with distance from release point, whereas pheromone traps captured a similar proportion up to 2.0 m from the traps. Tracks of T. castaneum responding to different pheromone concentrations in still and moving air in a 2.5 m × 0.4 m olfactometer indicated that the aggregation pheromone stimulated the beetles to walk faster at higher concentrations, to increase the frequency and magnitude of turning and to decrease track reversal distances and distances between turns. The behavioural responses of the beetles to the pheromone in still and moving air were similar, indicating chemotaxis as the major orientation mechanism used by T. castaneum to locate an odour source. The beetles showed greater orientation efficiency within a discrete pheromone plume than a diffuse plume.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 443 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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