Host-Derived Attractants for the Beetles Hylastes nigrinus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) and Steremnius carinatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

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Abstract
The responses of Hylastes nigrinus (Mannerheim) and Steremnius carinatus (Boheman) to pitfall traps baited with root sections of healthy Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco, or sections of Douglas-fir infected with the fungus Ceratocystis wageneri Goheen α Cobb, and to pitfall traps baited with ethanol or α-pinene, were examined. Significantly more H. nigrinus and S. carinatus were caught in pitfall traps baited with infected root sections than in traps baited with healthy roots. More beetles were attracted to traps baited with α-pinene or with ethanol than to unbaited traps. We suggest that plant injury, stress, or infection by C. wageneri may lead to the production and release of volatile host attractants which are detected by insect vectors during the host-selection process.