Sex Pheromone Responses of the Oriental Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Abstract

The synthetic female sex pheromone of the oriental beetle, Anomala orientalis Waterhouse, was evaluated in the field and in a sustained-flight tunnel. In a 2-wk period, > 150,000 beetles were captured on three golf course fairways in Connecticut. Contrary to earlier reports that these beetles are most active during the warm, sunny portions of the day, we observed that peak activity occurs around sunset. Ten micrograms of either (Z)-7-tetradecen-2-one or an 89/11 (Z/E) blend on a rubber septum was found to be the minimum concentration with which no significant decrease in catch was observed in the field. There was no discrimination between Z and the blend at 1 μg and higher concentrations, but the E-isomer alone trapped significantly fewer beetles than either Z alone or the blend. These results are consistent with the flight tunnel data. The effects of temperature and light intensity on the mating behavior of A. orientalis also are discussed.