Multi-baiting YATLORf sex pheromone traps to optimize click beetle (Agriotes spp., Coleoptera: Elateridae) monitoring for low-cost IPM of wireworms

Implementation of IPM in arable crops requires affordable monitoring tools. YATLORf traps baited with a synthetic pheromone lure for a target species have proven to be effective for monitoring Europe’s most harmful soil pests: Agriotes spp. After the suitable lure position for each of the main Agriotes species was ascertained, different combinations of lures in the same trap were studied in various European countries. Trials were carried out between 2001 and 2007, with the traps being arranged in blocks. Each block contained one trap per treatment under study (i.e., traps baited with a single species lure and traps baited with combinations of two or more different species lures). Unlike most of the research outputs on sex pheromone lures (e.g., on Lepidoptera species), the results of this research have clearly shown that lures for many Agriotes species can be combined in the same trap without loss of performance against most species. Two clear exceptions were A. sputator and A. rufipalpis, which were sensitive to the presence of the geranyl octanoate in lures for other species. It was possible to multi-bait a trap, i.e., use up to four different lures (A. brevis, A. sordidus, A. litigiosus, and A. ustulatus) with good results, thus demonstrating for the first time that important soil pest species belonging to the same genus can be monitored with multi-baited sex pheromone traps. Multi-baiting the same trap resulted in significantly reduced monitoring costs.