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Title: Capture of Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in floor traps: the effect of previous captures

Author
item ATHANASSIOU, CHRISTOS - University Of Thessaly
item KAVALLIERATOS, NICKOLAS - University Of Thessaly
item Campbell, James - Jim

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/6/2015
Publication Date: 2/12/2016
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62140
Citation: Athanassiou, C.G., Kavallieratos, N.G., Campbell, J.F. 2016. Capture of Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in floor traps: the effect of previous captures. Journal of Economic Entomology. 109(1):461-466. doi: 10.1093/jee/tov307.

Interpretive Summary: Traps baited with pheromones and food odors are used to monitoring stored product insects inside food facilities. An assumption associated with interpreting the results of trapping programs is that traps are collecting a representative sample of the insects present. However, it is possible that capture of individuals within a trap may influence how attractive that trap is to insects that subsequently encounter it. For the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) and the confused flour beetle, (Tribolium confusum), when only one of the species was present, the presence of beetles of the same species in the trap resulted in an increase in beetle captures, but when traps had the opposite species there was no increase in beetle captures. When both beetle species were present, captures in traps was no longer increased by presence of beetles of the same species in the trap. These findings suggest that care needs to be taken in interpreting the results of monitoring programs for red flour beetle and confused flour beetle, because probability of capture in trap can be influenced by prior captures and the cooccurence both species in a facility.

Technical Abstract: The impact of prior captures on the trapping performance of floor traps was evaluated for the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in laboratory conditions. The effect of trap seeding, adding adults of the same or different species, was evaluated in order to determine possible effects of prior captures in the trap on each species behavioral responses. The presence of seeded beetles of the same species resulted in an increase in beetle captures for both T. castaneum and T. confusum, but when traps were seeded with the opposite species there was no increase in beetle captures for either species, and for T. castaneum overall captures in both seeded and unseed traps was reduced. Overall, T. castaneum tended to have greater captures than T. confusum regardless of the treatment. When the two species were released together this negated the increased response to seeded traps observed in the single species treatments. These findings suggest the potential that the presence of beetles in a trap may be influencing the response of beetles in a nearby trap and that T. castaneum and T. confusum when they occur together may influence each others response to traps.