D3392: Investigating the impacts of synthetic female sex pheromone on Agriotes obscurus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) mating behaviour

Agriotes obscurus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) is an introduced agricultural pest in Canada whose soil-dwelling larval stage falls into the category of wireworms. With wireworm treatment options dwindling, there is a need for research and novel methods that effectively control the adult beetle populations as indirect wireworm control. The female sex pheromone of A. obscurus is widely reproduced and used for the long range attraction of male beetles to traps, yet the impact of female sex pheromone on interactions between beetle pairs is unknown. By recording A. obscurus pairs in the presence of the pheromone and analyzing the videos using behaviour event-logging software, we found that older pheromone granules (kept outdoors for three weeks) unexpectedly resulted in more frequent but shorter interactions between male and female beetles. The findings may be relevant to the use of female sex pheromone for mating disruption.