Comparing effectiveness of three traps used to monitor Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Integrated management of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), the red flour beetle is facilitated by use of insect traps for its detection and monitoring. T. castaneum is a major pest of grain processing and storage facilities. The goal of our study was to compare the effectiveness of three types of traps used to monitor T. castaneum, namely, ClimbUP^® BG (Black Grip), Dome™, and Torios^®. Three experimental sheds (2.5 m x 3 m) located at the Stored Product Research and Education Center (SPREC), Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK were used. We compared the trap catches of ClimbUP^® BG, which is a new kind of trap, with those of two commercially available traps, namely, Dome™ and Torios^®. The ClimbUP^® BG trap is used with corn oil kairomone, the Dome™ trap with a kairomone and pheromone lure, and the Torios^® trap has a pheromone lure and a sticky surface. The experiment comprised 3 replications of a 3 x 3 Latin square design. In all cases, one type of trap was placed in each experimental shed containing 200 g of diet and 200 adult beetles. After 1 wk the numbers of beetles in traps were counted. Based on our data, Dome™ trap caught the highest number of T. castaneum. However, there was no significant difference in the numbers of T. castaneum caught in the ClimbUP^® BG and Torios^® traps. A newer version of the ClimbUP^® BG trap with white light was recently tested. Results and implications of this test will be presented.

Key words: Red flour beetle, ClimbUP^® BG trap, Dome™ trap, Torios^® trap