Perspectives of multi-species lures for attracting Chrysopidae

Abstract: Green lacewings (Chrysopidae) are important predators of several soft-bodied insect pests, with preference for Sternorrhyncha, especially aphids. The predatory larvae of Chrysoperla carnea species complex have special importance in agroecosystems. Previously a ternary floral bait was developed as a powerful attractant to both sexes of these lacewings, furthermore females were found to lay their eggs in the vicinity of the baits, which is of crucial importance in respect of biological control. Nevertheless, adults of Chrysoperla spp. are not predatory, thus it would be beneficial to apply stimuli, which may be attractive to a wider range of green lacewings, including the predatory adults of Chrysopa spp.In order to find potential compounds for development of multi-species lures, field experiments were conducted in Hungary. In this paper we are aiming to give a brief overview of obtained results.In our field experiments, an aphid sex pheromone compound, nepetalactol, attracted males of Chrysopa species, predominantly C. formosa, which is frequently present in agroecosystems; however, when nepetalactol was used in combination with the ternary floral bait, the number of attracted Chrysoperla spp. adults decreased markedly.On the other hand, squalene was also found to be attractive to C. formosa. Interestingly, this compound was also attractive to males only. When tested in combination with the mentioned ternary floral bait, no significant interaction was found.Our results indicate that the combination of the ternary floral bait and squalene could be promising for simultaneous attraction of Chrysoperla spp. and males of Chrysopa spp. Perspectives, challenges and potential practical applications are discussed in this paper.