Odorants of spp. Dried Fruits as Candidate Attractants for F. (Coleoptera: Anobiidae).

The cigarette beetle, F. (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) is an important food storage pest affecting the tobacco industry and is increasingly impacting museums and herbaria. Monitoring methods make use of pheromone traps which can be implemented using chili fruit powder. The objective of this study was to assess the response of to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from different chili powders in order to identify the main semiochemicals involved in this attraction. Volatiles emitted by , and dried fruit powders were tested in an olfactometer and collected and analyzed using SPME and GC-MS. Results indicated that and VOCs elicit attraction toward adults in olfactometer, while VOCs elicit no attraction. Chemicals analysis showed a higher presence of polar compounds in the VOCs of and compared to , with α-ionone and β-ionone being more abundant in the attractive species. Further olfactometer bioassays indicated that both α-ionone and β-ionone elicit attraction, suggesting that these compounds are candidates as synergistic attractants in pheromone monitoring traps for .