Seasonally Related Decline in Response of Boll Weevils 1 to Pheromone Traps During Mid-Season 2

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The seasonal response of Anthonomus grandis Boheman to pheromone produced by males of the species and the synthetic pheromone (grandlure) was investigated in the Rolling Plains of Texas over a 6-yr period. Records were maintained on numbers of boll weevils captured on traps located at various distances from cotton fields. Weevil entry into grandlure-baited cotton was compared to weevil response to traps. The last major period of overwintered weevil response to the pheromone source during the spring and a subsequent decline in response occurred about the same time during most years independent of the pheromone location with respect to cotton. The similarity in weevil response trends indicated that the presence of pheromone producing ♂ weevils in cotton was not a major causal factor in the decline in weevil response to traps. These results contradict an earlier hypothesis stating that reduced response to traps during mid-season is initiated by competition from ♂ weevils inhabiting cotton in the trapping area. The present study concludes that the decline in weevil response to traps in the spring is a seasonally related phenomenon regulated by presently unknown factors but not by competition from pheromone-producing weevils in cotton.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: