John TSITSIPIS1, Vasilios TSAKIRIS1, Lorenzo FURLAN2, Miklos TOTH3 and Kostas ZARPAS1
1 University of Thessaly, 38334 Volos, Greece
2 University of Padova, 35020 Agripolis, Italy
3 Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
The seasonal abundance of wireworm species (Coleoptera: Elateridae), important pests of many crops, was examined in Central Greece. Sex pheromone traps, soil bait traps and soil sampling were used. The experimental field was located in Velestino, Magnesia (Central Greece) and monitoring covered the period from late March until late October. Ten pheromone traps were set up in an area of about 1-hectare (200x50m). The pheromone dispensers were replaced every month. The traps were placed inside wheat, maize and sugar beet crops. Pheromones of the following Agriotes species were used: A. lineatus L., A. rufipalpis Brullé, A. litigiosus Rossi, A. sputator L. and A. ustulatus Schaller. Two traps were set up per pheromone species distributed randomly. Soil sampling was performed in April and May and soil bait traps were placed in the ground to monitor the larval stages. All captured individuals were males. The traps for A. ustulatus did not capture any individuals of this species, but they caught two individuals belonging to A. rufipalpis and Hemicrepidius hirtus Hbst. The traps corresponding to A. sputator captured ten individuals for the whole monitoring period: one Cardiophorus crassicollis Hbst., one A. paludum K., two A. rufipalpis and six H. hirtus. The traps for A. lineatus captured 12 individuals from late April to mid July, showing no particular population peaks: five A. lineatus, four A. paludum, two A. rufipalpis and one H. hirtus. The traps for A. litigiosus captured a total of 566 males from mid May to mid July, 556 of which were A. litigiosus. One A. rufipalpis was also caught along with nine H. hirtus. Finally, the A. rufipalpis pheromones attracted 569 A. rufipalpis males along with four A. paludum. Three larvae were found with the soil sampling: two A. rufipalpis and one Melanotus sp. Also, one Melanotus sp. larva was caught by the soil bait traps.