Millar JG, Williams L 3rd, Serrano JM, McElrath TC, Zou Y, Grommes-Yeager AC, Schoeppner E, Huseth AS, Kuhar TP, Etzler FE, and Hanks LM
We describe experiments that evaluated potential sex pheromone components for 6 North American click beetle species. In field trials in Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, male beetles of 6 species were strongly attracted to geranyl butyrate (Agriotes insanus Candèze), 5-methylhexyl (Z)-4-decenoate (Elater abruptus Say), 11-dodecenyl butyrate (Melanotus ignobilis Melsheimer), and limoniic acid (Gambrinus griseus [Palisot de Beauvois], G. rudis [Brown], and G. plebejus [Say]). Collection of E. abruptus in South Carolina represents a new state record. For each species, capture rates varied geographically and temporally, possibly due to differences in local population densities and regional phenology, or the efficiency of different trap designs or trap placement. Structural similarities were observed between the tested attractants and previously identified pheromones of closely related species. For example, males of A. insanus were attracted to geranyl butyrate, analogous to the terpenoid ester pheromones of a number of European congeners. The attractant for E. abruptus, 5-methylhexyl (Z)-4-decenoate, is an analog of the pheromone of its European congener E. ferrugineus L., and the attractant for M. ignobilis, 11-dodecenyl butyrate, is an analog of attractants of European and Asian congeners. Attraction of the 3 Gambrinus species to limoniic acid parallels recent reports of attraction of the congeners G. seminudus (Van Dyke) and G. ursinus (Van Dyke) to this compound, which was originally identified from closely related species of Limonius. Full identifications of additional sex pheromones for elaterid species should provide a more complete picture of the diversities/similarities of the semiochemicals mediating reproductive behaviors of this biologically diverse and taxonomically complex group., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)