Attractiveness of Male and Female Adults of Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae) to Conspecifics With and Without Grain

Abstract

Abstract Whether stored-grain insects can communicate with each other inside stored-grain bulks is an important question for the development of pest management programs. Movements of the individual adults of Cryptolestes ferrugineus towards caged adult(s), in the presence or absence of wheat, were studied inside an apparatus (10 cm length), using an infrared camera. The numbers of the caged adults were 1, 20, or 50 of females or males, and 100 or 200 mixed-sex adults. Without grain, both males and females moved towards the caged single male, but not the caged single female. With grain, neither males nor females moved towards the caged single male or female. When 50 males were added to the cage, females did move significantly towards the caged males. There were trends for introduced males and females to move towards caged males at higher densities.