Gallery initiation byTomicus piniperda (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) on scots pine trees baited with host volatiles

Abstract

In a trapping experiment, wood chips from freshly cut Scots pine trees attracted flying adults of the bark beetleTomicus piniperda (L.) Healthy Scots pine trees, which usually are not attacked byT. piniperda, were baited with chips from freshly cut trees. In other experiments trees were baited with a mixture of (-)-α-pinene, (+)-3-carene, and terpinolene; the individual monoterpenes; or with ethanol alone. All baited treatments were attacked byT. piniperda. Most of the attacks resulted in short egg galleries and in larval galleries which were only a few millimeters in length. In trees from which a new generation of beetles emerged, net reproduction was well below 1.0. Unbaited control trees remained unattacked or received a few isolated attacks.