In tests conducted on the Kenai National Moose Range, Alaska, seudenol and α-pinene attracted more spruce beetles (Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby)) than did frontalin and α-pinene, the best previously reported synthetic attractant. Addition of methylcyclohexenone (MCH) to sticky traps baited with spruce logs (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss.) infested with 20 female spruce beetles or to traps treated with seudenol and α-pinene reduced the number of spruce beetles caught by 87% and 99%, respectively. MCH appears to have similar repressive effect on the attraction of spruce beetle populations that differ in their geographic locations and hosts. A total of 179 other scolytids, representing 8 genera and 10 species, were caught by traps; greatest numbers were attracted to treatments containing trans-verbenol and uninfested spruce log sections. Scierus pubescens (Swaine) was recorded from Alaska for the first time. No members of Thanasimus species were caught although they have been consistently present in abundance in similar tests elsewhere.
In tests conducted in the McKinley River drainage, Alaska, seudenol combined with α-pinene attracted the most eastern larch beetles, Dendroctonus simplex LeConte. The next most attractive treatments included tamarack log sections infested with either unmated female D. simplex or unmated female Douglas-fir beetles, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins, Neither frontalin nor trans- verbenol with α-pinene was attractive. Addition of niethylcyclohexenone (MCH) to the seudenol + α-pinene treatment repressed its attraction by 83%. Sex ratios of simplex responding to logs infested with female simplex or pseudotsugae were equal or favored females, but favored males in the case of seudenol + α-pinene. Addition of MCH shifted the sex ratio in favor of females. Two other scolytid species, Orthotomicus caelatus (Eichhoff) and Ips perturbatus (Eichhoff), were trapped, but were too few to relate to treatments. Two species of clerids were caught on traps: Thanasimus undatulus Say and Thanasimus dubius (L.); the latter is a new Alaskan record.
The antiaggregation pheroraone MCH was ineffective in preventing spruce beetle infestation in felled spruce near Hope, Alaska. In October, most progeny were larvae but some were pupae and new adults. Densities of spruce beetle attacks and progeny on the shaded under side of stems were about twice those on the upper side, whereas attacks of Polygraphus rufipennis (Kirby) and Dryocoetes affaber (Mann.) on the upper side were 100 times those on the under side. Ips tridens engelmanni Swain was present in only 2% of bark samples. Entomophagous insects were scarce; only Medetera sp. and Coeloides sp. were found. Spruce beetle progeny were 45 times more abundant than attacking parents. Factors affecting the efficiency of sampling spruce beetle attacks and progeny are discussed.
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