Evaluation of factors impacting trap catches of red flour beetle

Abstract: An effective monitoring program is the foundation of good Integrated PestManagement programs for food facilities such as mills, processing plants, warehouses, and retailstores. The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is a major stored-product pest of foodfacilities, especially mills, and a number of pheromone/food based traps are commerciallyavailable. Unfortunately, the level of response by adults to these traps is typically not high andappears to be strongly influenced by the internal state of the insect and the environmentsurrounding the trap. This perceived low effectiveness has limited adoption of pheromonetrapping for this pest as part of IPM programs. Recent research on evaluating trap response byred flour beetles adults and some factors that impact the level of response will be presented. Theimplications of these factors for implementation and interpretation of monitoring programs willalso be discussed.