Comparison of arboreal beetle catches in wet and dry collection cups with Lindgren multiple funnel traps

We compared the effectiveness of a dry collection cup (with an insecticide killing strip) to a wet collection cup (containing antifreeze) for use with Lindgren multiple-funnel traps in catching several common species of bark and wood-boring beetles, and their associates in southern pine forests. All traps were baited with either the binary combination of ethanol and (-)-alpha-pinene or the quaternary combination of (+/-)-ipsenol, (+/-)-ipsdienol, ethanol, and (-)-alpha-pinene. We found that cup treatment had little, if any, effect on catches of Ips avulsus (Eichhoff) and I. grandicollis (Eichhoff) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), Alaus myops (F.) (Elateridae), Chalcophora Solier species (Buprestidae), Temnochila virescens (F.) (Trogositidae), and Lasconotus Erichson species (Colydiidae). In contrast, catches of the following species were significantly less (by 40-97%) in traps with dry cups than in traps with wet cups: Hylobius pales Herbst and Pachylobius picivorus LeConte (Curculionidae); Buprestis lineata F. (Buprestidae); Acanthocinus obsoletus (Olivier), Arhopalus rusticus nubilus (LeConte), Monochamus titillator (F.) and Xylotrechus sagittatus sagittatus (Cerambycidae); Hylastes porculus Erichson and Xyleborinus saxeseni (Ratzeburg) (Scolytidae); and Thanasimus dubius (F.) (Cleridae). The same was true in at least one experiment for the following species: Dendroctonus terebrans (Olivier), Hylastes salebrosus Eichhoff, Hylastes tenuis Eichhoff, and Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky) (Scolytidae). We conclude that cup treatment can have a significant impact on catches of some arboreal beetles in baited multiple-funnel traps. Anyone using multiple-funnel traps to capture arboreal beetles should evaluate the potential impacts arising from their choice of collection cup treatment to their trapping objectives and expectations. The issue of cup treatment may be particular important at low population levels when maximum trap efficiency is required such as in the detection of exotic insects at ports-of-entry and within quarantine and containment zones.