Seasonal fluctuations in Agriotes spp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae) at two sites in Austria and the efficiency of bait trap designs for monitoring wireworm populations in the soil

Abstract

Wireworms, the larvae of Agriotes spp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae), cause serious damage to a number of crops. To develop an effective management strategy, a reliable method of estimating the abundance of the Agriotes species is needed. This paper describes a trapping study of Agriotes in parts of Austria. Over two years, adult click beetles were monitored using YATLOR sex pheromone traps and wireworms were monitored using bait traps. Also, the efficiency of bait traps with different numbers of perforations was compared. In a location in Upper Austria, A. lineatus was by far the most common species and in a location in lower Austria, the majority of beetles caught were A. ustulatus. A. brevis was common in Upper Austria, but nearly absent in Lower Austria. There were large discrepancies between the species compositions of the adults and larvae caught, suggesting a low efficiency of the bait traps. More larvae were caught in bait traps with greater numbers of holes, but the difference was not statistically significant. Further improvements in bait traps or another sampling method will be needed to accurately estimate the density of wireworms.