Several synthetic floral lures have been described for the cetoniin scarabs Cetonia aurata aurata L. and Potosia cuprea Fabr. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), exploiting their olfaction-guided behavioural preference for a wide range of flower volatiles.A ternary mixture of 3-methyl eugenol, 1-phenylethanol and (E)-anethol has previously been described as a powerful synthetic floral attractant for both C. a. aurata and P. cuprea. The first objective of the present research was to test whether isoeugenol and eugenol, with a very similar molecular structure to 3-methyl eugenol, can substitute 3-methyl eugenol in the ternary blend. All baited traps caught significantly more of both species than unbaited control traps, however, traps containing 3-methyl eugenol caught significantly more than those with either isoeugenol or eugenol. This indicates a fine tuning in behavioural response to 3-methyl eugenol.The second objective was to devise simpler attractant combinations for C. a. aurata and P. cuprea, based on previous field studies with synthetic floral compounds. Both C. a. aurata and P. cuprea showed strong attraction to the combination of 2-phenylethanol and 4-methoxyphenethyl alcohol, while the combination of 2-phenylethanol and 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene resulted in medium-size catches, however, mostly catching P. cuprea. This level of selectivity may lead to the development of more selective lures for P. cuprea, and provide a better understanding of the feeding-related olfactory ecology of the two important pest chafer species.

Most of the current understanding of the orientation and communication of jewel beetles arose from research on the Asian emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, which has become one of the most destructive invasive forest insect pests in history following its introduction to North America and European Russia. From a European perspective, a number of jewel beetles have a high invasive risk similar to that of the emerald ash borer, including the potential threat of the bronze birch borer Agrilus anxius, the goldspotted oak borer Agrilus auroguttatus, and the twolined chestnut borer Agrilus bilineatus. Native jewel beetles expanding their geographic range include the cypress jewel beetle Ovalisia festiva and the black-banded oak borer Coraebus florentinus. Other native species are increasing in their importance, including the flathead oak borer Coraebus undatus, the two-spotted oak borer Agrilus biguttatus, the flatheaded beech borer Agrilus viridis and Agrilus cuprescens. Commonly used prism and multi-funnel trap designs and other promising experimental trap designs have been tested and compared in the US and in Europe. One factor considered has been colouration, typically purple and green. Another is olfactory attraction, both to plant volatiles and extracts such as (Z)-3-hexenol, Manuka oil, Phoebe oil and Cubeb oil, and also to pheromones such as (Z)-3-lactone, for emerald ash borer. Field observations have been made of mating and host-finding behaviours of oak buprestids based upon visual stimuli in North America and Europe. By using pinned dead EAB models, visual mating approaches have been observed by males of Agrilus biguttatus, Agrilus sulcicollis and Agrilus angustulus, which is a behaviour similar to that previously observed in EAB. Green plastic-covered branch-traps significantly out-performed other trap designs and caught more Agrilus jewel beetles if an artificial visual decoy that copies a beetle body was included. A higher fidelity decoy offered the same distinctive light-scattering pattern as real resting EAB females and elicited the full sequence of stereotypical male mating flight behaviour of EAB and A. biguttatus from up to 1 m away. An optimization of visual, olfactory and other possible stimuli has likely not yet been achieved. More sophisticated trap designs could lead to more sensitive detection capabilities with increased selectivity.

Agriotes ustulatus is an economically important click beetle in Europe. A female-produced pheromone, ( E,E )-farnesyl acetate, has been identified and is used for monitoring and detecting males. More recently, a floral lure targeting females with modest, but significant, activity has been described. Based on preliminary data, we hypothesized, that similar to the effects on the congeneric A. brevis , addition of the pheromone to the floral lure should improve female A. ustulatus catches. Also, as click beetles have been reported to respond to white light, we studied possible interactions between visual and chemical cues. In field trials, the addition of the synthetic pheromone to the floral lure resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of females trapped, whereas male catches remained unaffected and equal to those in traps baited with pheromone only. A white visual cue did not influence trap catches. Maximum catches of both sexes of A. ustulatus can be achieved using the pheromone and the floral lure inside the same trap. Furthermore, the compounds can be formulated in a single polyethylene bag dispenser, making handling of the trap easier. Due to a much larger proportion of females in the catch, this improved trap may be a promising tool for semiochemical-based, environmentally sound agricultural practice against this important pest.