An attractant trap for autodissemination of entomopathogenic fungi into populations of the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Autodissemination may be effective against the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, in situations where habitats of tis larvae are inaccessible. Trapping systems with attractants for both male and female Japanese beetles are commercially available. We fabricated an inoculation chamber which fits between the top of a standard Trece Catch Can(TM) Japanese beetle Trap and its holding canister. Beetles which are attracted to the trap fall through a hole in the inoculation chamber and land on a mesh screen. A partial funnel and canister attachment from a metal Ellisco Japanese Beetle Trap was secured beneath a hole in the floor at the opposite end of the chamber. A 10-cm section in the middle of the box, between the entrance hole in the roof and the exit hole in the floor, allows space for a dish containing the inoculum to be placed into the chamber through a door in the side of the unit. The trap has been tested with Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin as the pathogen. Beetles emerging from the device in the field were captured and returned to the laboratory where the presence of conidia and mortality to adult beetles from the fungus were confirmed.