Spectral sensitivity of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) and their responses to light stimuli in laboratory and field experiments

Abstract

With increasingly fewer insecticides registered to control the larvae of pest click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), integrative beetle management, including pheromone- and light-based trapping of adult beetles, must be explored as an alternative strategy. Here, we analyzed the spectral sensitivity and color preference of 9 elaterids across 6 genera in electrophysiological recordings and in behavioral bioassays. In electroretinogram recordings (ERGs), dark-adapted beetles were exposed to narrow wavebands of light in 10-nm increments from 330 to 650 nm. All beetles proved most sensitive to green (515-538 nm) and ultraviolet (UV) light (~360 nm). In 4-choice bioassay arenas with 3 light emitting diodes (LEDs; green [525 nm], blue [470 nm], red [655 nm]) and a dark control as test stimuli, beetles discriminated between test stimuli, being preferentially attracted to green and blue LEDs. In field experiments, Vernon pitfall traps fitted with a green, blue or white LED captured significantly more male and female Agriotes lineatus and A. obscurus than dark control traps. When traps were baited with green or blue LEDs at light intensities that differed by 10-fold, the traps baited with higher light intensity lures captured numerically more beetles but trap catch data in accordance with light intensity did not differ statistically. Light-based trapping may be a viable tool for monitoring elaterid species known not to have pheromones.

Keywords: Elateridae; click beetles; light trapping; monitoring; spectral sensitivity.