Preliminary investigations of North American click beetle pheromones

Click beetles are rapidly increasing in importance in a number of agricultural crops.  However, only a relatively small number of pheromones and pheromone candidates have been identified for click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae).  Furthermore, to date, pheromones have only been conclusively identified from European and Asian species.  Thus, the pheromone chemistry of the large complex of click beetle species in North America remains essentially unknown.  Thus, we initiated a project to identify pheromones for North American click beetle species, using two different approaches.  First, libraries of known click beetle pheromones and analogs have been synthesized, and are being screened in field bioassays.  Second, volatiles produced by click beetles collected by standard sampling methods are being analyzed, focusing on any sex-specific compounds.  The first results from these two parallel approaches will be discussed.