Use of infochemicals to attract carrion beetles into pitfall traps

0329069 - ÚOCHB 2010 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Podskalská, H. - Růžička, J. - Hoskovec, Michal - Šálek, M.
Use of infochemicals to attract carrion beetles into pitfall traps.
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. Roč. 132, č. 1 (2009), s. 59-64. ISSN 0013-8703. E-ISSN 1570-7458
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40550506
Keywords : burying beetles * dimethylsulfide * dimethyldisulfide * dimethyltrisulfide
Subject RIV: CC - Organic Chemistry
Impact factor: 1.568, year: 2009

When the bodies of small vertebrates start to decay shortly after death, a number of organosulfur compounds are produced, including methanethiol, dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethyldisulfide (DMDS), dimethyltrisulfide (DMTS), and S-methyl thioacetate. These molecules appear to attract various necrophagous animals. We tested the roles of DMS, DMDS, and DMTS as attractants of carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae) in a 3-day experiment (220 baited pitfall traps) in an agricultural landscape in southern Bohemia. Sets of traps baited with DMTS were more successful in catching N. vespillo than sets baited with a blank. Traps containing DMDS had higher trapping success than traps containing DMS. In addition, trapping success strongly increased using DMTS in the presence of DMDS but not of DMS, suggesting a synergistic effect of DMDS and DMTS. We observed similar patterns between males and females in response to the infochemicals tested.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0175203