The Association of Ethanol in the Attack Behaviour of the Mountain Pinhole Borer Platypus Subgranosus Schedl (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Platypodinae)

Ethanol was shown to be a powerful attractant and boring stimulant for the mountain pinhole borer Platypus subgranosus. Sticky traps baited with ethanol caught significantly more beetles than corresponding water filled control traps, but the concentration of ethanol did not significantly affect the number of beetles caught. Ethanol lures attached to healthy, uninfested trees induced P. subgranosus attack on myrtle beech, Nothofagus cunninghamii Oerst, sassafras, Atherosperma moschatum Labill., and leatherwood, Eucryphia lucida (Labill.) Baill. Myrtle beech logs which had been soaked in water before exposure in the forest were initially more attractive to P. subgranosus than unsoaked logs. The principal volatile from soaked and unsoaked logs was identified as ethanol.