An attractant trap for autodissemination of entomopathogenic fungi into populations of the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae)

Autodissemination may be effective against the Japanese beetle, Popillia ja ponica Newman, in situations where habitats of tis larvae are inaccessible. Trapping systems with attractants for both male and female Japanese beetle s are commercially available. We fabricated an inoculation chamber which fi ts between the top of a standard Trece Catch Can(TM) Japanese beetle Trap a nd its holding canister. Beetles which are attracted to the trap fall throu gh a hole in the inoculation chamber and land on a mesh screen. A partial f unnel and canister attachment from a metal Ellisco Japanese Beetle Trap was secured beneath a hole in the floor at the opposite end of the chamber. A 10-cm section in the middle of the box, between the entrance hole in the ro of and the exit hole in the floor, allows space for a dish containing the i noculum to be placed into the chamber through a door in the side of the uni t. The trap has been tested with Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Soro kin as the pathogen. Beetles emerging from the device in the field were cap tured and returned to the laboratory where the presence of conidia and mort ality to adult beetles from the fungus were confirmed.