Dear Nitin,

There is quite a variety of traps and lures available for white grubs (species in the Melolonthinae, Rutelinae and Dynastibae subfamilies). You could check some reviews on white grub management (Held & Potter 2012, Annual Review of Entomoogyl 57:329–354) and chafer chemical communication (Leal 1998, Annual Review Entomology 43:39–61; Francke & Dettner 2005, Topics in Current Chemistry 240:85–166; Vuts et al. 2014, Journal of Chemical Ecology 40:190–210), or try www.pherobase.com to find out which species-specific attractants you will need. (If you have no copies of these articles, I can send you them.) A reliable source of efficient chafer odour-baited traps is http://www.csalomontraps.com.

Which species do you need to deal with?

I hope this help.

Jozsef

Hi,

I have been working with the pheromones and traps for Melolontha species. You didn't mention what species you are interested in, so it is difficult to give you a more presize advice.

Lidia

Thanks Zozsef and Lidia am interested in complex of Holotrichia rustica, H. mucida and Schizonycha ruficolis.

I would be happy to get soft copies of those reprints. Can you send it to [email protected]

Hi Nitin,

Will send the papers. To my best knowledge, there are no attractants for your species. An idea may be to screen known compounds described for other Holotrichia spp. in field trapping tests - perhaps some of them will show activity. In Leal et al. 1996, Journal of Chemical Ecology 22:1557–1566, you can find details of the trap they used for Holotrichia, or again: http://www.csalomontraps.com.

Jozsef

Thanks. Would like to have those papers. Ready to collaborate if you have good experience in that.

Nitin,

There is a compound identified as a sex pheromone/aggregation pheromone for H. reynaudi and H. consanguinea and that is anisole. L-isoleucine is identified as a sex pheromone of H. parallela and aminobenzoic acid as an aggregant for H. loochooana. Since the genus Holotrichia is regarded by some to be the Phyllophaga (New World genus) of the Old World I would be inclined to try identified Phyllophaga pheromones which include the methyl esters of the essential amino acids L-valine, L-isoleucine and L-leucine as well as methyl (2-methylthio) benzoate.

Agree with Paul on screening Phyllophaga compounds, that`s a great idea.

If you have not yet a clue which species you're dealing with, and if you can rear some larvae to adults, and if there is the possibility to distinguish (at pupa level by external characteristics) the sexes, join 5 unmated females in a trap center, not allowing them to get into contact with males from outside, and use them as a bait. By this method you get more adults for identification purposes. This would just be for starters. After that it is easier to get to a more specific level.

Hi Nitin

I once worked on beetles and weevils pheromones for sometime. will send you an email as to what to do, if the attractants/pheromones are not known for these species. In the mean while, you can try the pheromones /kairomones suggested by others.

Nitin

I have sent you an email containing the needed information.