Evaluation of attractants for monitoring populations of the German cockroach (Dictyoptera : Blattellidae)

Lures that are used to attract German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.) , to traps were compared in olfactometer assays in the laboratory and in tr apping experiments in cockroach-infested homes and a swine farm. In olfacto meter assays, AgriSense GP-2 was the most attractive lure, followed by pean ut butter, and distiller's grain. Other lures, including Trapper tablet; Vi ctor pheromone, a crude fecal extract that ostensibly contains B. germanica aggregation pheromone; and Victor food lure elicited upwind orientation fr om <50% of the test insects. Peanut butter and distiller's grain were equal ly attractive in trapping experiments in swine production barns and they ca ptured significantly more cockroaches than the GP-2 tablet of the Victor ph eromone lure; the commercial lures failed to attract significantly more coc kroaches than the unbaited control traps. When tested against blank control s, cockroaches preferred to rest in shelters that contained the aggregation pheromone-based lure (Victor), but this lure as the least attractive to co ckroaches in olfactometer assays. These results do not support claims that commercial crude fecal extracts attract cockroaches to traps, and they high light a need for developing more attractive lures for detection of cockroac hes and for monitoring populations.