Effects of Ethanol and α-Pinene in a Generic Trap Lure Blend for Pine Bark and Wood-Boring Beetles in Southeastern United States

Managers of detection programs for bark and wood-boring beetles require cost-effective trap lure combinations that maximize species detections. A trapping study was conducted in 2012 to determine the effects of ethanol and alpha-pinene lures on beetle catches in traps baited with ipsenol and ipsdienol lures in a stand of Pinus taeda L. in north-central Georgia. Traps with all four compounds worked well for 20 of 25 species of bark and wood-boring beetles, and associated predators. Catches of Acanthocinus obsoletus (LeConte) and Monochamus titillator (F.) (Cerambycidae), Hylastes porculus Erichson, Hylastes salebrosus Eichhoff, Hylobius pales (Herbst), Orthotomicus caelatus (Eichhoff) (Curculionidae), Thanasimus dubius (F.) (Cleridae), and Temnoscheila virescens (F.) (Trogossitidae) in baited traps increased with the addition of ethanol and alpha-pinene with maximum catches in traps baited with all four compounds. Catches of Ips avulsus (Eichhoff) (Curculionidae) decreased with the addition of both compounds; the lowest numbers of I. avulsus and Ips grandicollis (Eichhoff) were caught in traps baited with all four compounds. alpha-Pinene increased catches of Buprestis lineata F. (Buprestidae), Ips calligraphus (Germar), Pachylobius picivorus (Germar) (Curculionidae), Corticeus spp. (Tenebrionidae), Lasconotus spp., and Pycnomerus sulcicollis LeConte (Zopheridae); ethanol had no effect on these species. Ethanol increased trap catches of Curius dentatus Newman (Cerambycidae), Dryoxylon onoharaense (Murayama) (Curculionidae) and Platysoma spp. (Histeridae); alpha-pinene reduced catches. The data suggest that ethanol and alpha-pinene should be retained with ipsenol and ipsdienol as a generic trap lure blend for pine bark and wood-boring beetles in southeastern United States.