Volatile fermentation products as attractants for Macrolepidoptera1

Abstract

Pure hexoses fermented in aqueous solutions proved as attractive to moths as the ordinary bait made from brown sugar, beer and baker's yeast. The attract ant properties are suggested to depend mainly on fermentation. Of 38 pure compounds (simple alcohols, acids, esters and aldehydes) present in the ordinary bait, 35 attracted Macrolepidoptera, the most efficient being ethyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, acetic acid and acetoin. Geometridae preferred ethyl alcohol, /1-phenethyl alcohol and acetoin. A mixture of eight compounds exhibited synergistic increase of attractiveness to Thyatiridae and Noctuidae, but not to Geometridae.