Pheromones affecting flying beetles colonizing the polypores Fomes fomentarius and Fomitopsis pinicola

Abstract

The existence of long-range pheromones in five beetle species breeding in polypore fruiting bodies was studied in a field experiment. Species included were: Dorcatoma robusta Strand (Anoblidae),Cis jacquemarti Mellie (Cisidae), and Bolitophagus reticulatus (L.) (Tenebrionidae) breeding in Fomes fomentarius (L. ex Fr.), as well as Dorcatoma punctulata Mulsant & Rey and Cis glabratus Mellie breeding in Fomitopsis pinicola Fr. (Karst). Catches of these species in window traps baited with pieces of polypores, together with females or males of the same species, were compared with catches in traps baited with only polypores. Catches of D. punctulata and C. jacquemarti were low, and no B. reticulatus were caught. Males of D. robusta were strongly attracted by conspecific females. In this species, only the females were attracted to host odour. No pheromone attraction was demonstrated in C. glabratus, in which males and females were about equally attracted to the odour of their host.