Document Type
Peer-Review Article
Abstract
Recently, (E)-4-ethyloct-4-enoic acid (limoniic acid) has been reported as the major sex attractant pheromone component of L. canus and L. californicus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in western North America. Our objective was to determine whether limoniic acid is also a sex attractant pheromone component of the eastern field wireworm, Limonius agonus (Say). In gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) analyses of headspace volatiles from L. agonus females, antennae from male L. agonus responded to limoniic acid as a trace component. In field experiments, traps baited with synthetic limoniic acid, or its analog (E)-5-ethyloct-4-enoic acid, afforded captures of male L. agonus 3.6- to 8.9-times greater than unbaited control traps. In long-term field trapping studies, emergence and captures of L. agonus males fluctuated with temperature for more than 5 weeks, with distinctively different emergence patterns at the two study sites. Compared to previous studies with L. canus and L. californicus, limoniic acid as a trap lure afforded relatively low captures of L. agonus males, suggesting that L. agonus populations were low or that other L. agonus pheromone components are yet to be identified.
Recommended Citation
van Herk, Wim; Gries, Regine; Smith, Jocelyn; Scott, Ian; and Gries, Gerhard
2023.
"Limoniic acid is a sex attractant pheromone component of Limonius agonus (Coleoptera: Elateridae),"
The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 56
(1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2444
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol56/iss1/12