Evaluation of a semiochemical tool for management of southwestern pine beetle, Dendroctonus barberi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in West Texas.

Authors

Demian F Gomez, Jackson P Audley, Christopher J Fettig, Jayme Trainer, Leif A Mortenson, Erin E Davis, Camille Wiseman, Agenor Mafra-Neto

Published in

Journal of economic entomology. Jun 30, 2026. Epub Jun 30, 2026.

Abstract

Southwestern pine beetle, Dendroctonus barberi Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a pest of ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws. (Pinales: Pinaceae), in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. D. barberi is closely related to the western pine beetle, D. brevicomis LeConte, but was reinstated as a distinct species in 2019. Verbenone Plus, a semiochemical blend of (-)-verbenone, acetophenone, (E )-2-hexen-1-ol, and (Z )-2-hexen-1-ol, was found to be inhibitory to D. brevicomis in 2009 and later reported to reduce mortality of P. ponderosa attributed to D. brevicomis. We evaluated the effects of Verbenone Plus on inhibition of D. barberi at the Davis Mountains Preserve, Texas, United States. A commercial formulation of (-)-verbenone (SPLAT Verb, EPA Reg. No. 80286-20, ISCA Inc., Riverside, California, United States) was used in all experiments. SPLAT Verb is a flowable matrix containing 10.0% (-)-verbenone by weight. Acetophenone, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, and (Z)-2-hexen-1-ol were loaded into pouches with (E)-2-hexen-1-ol + (Z)-2-hexen-1-ol combined in a single pouch. Trapping assays were conducted from 16 to 23 June 2024 and from 2 to 9 October 2024 to evaluate responses of D. barberi to a low dose (3.5 g of (-)-verbenone/trap, VPL) and high dose (7.0 g of (-)-verbenone/trap, VPH) of Verbenone Plus in multiple-funnel traps baited with a D. barberi lure (Synergy Semiochemical Corp., Delta, BC, Canada). VPL and VPH inhibited attraction of total D. barberi, female D. barberi, and male D. barberi in both trapping assays. In the October assay, VPH captured fewer total D. barberi and female D. barberi than VPL, whereas no differences were observed between doses in the April assay. A zone-of-inhibition assay was conducted from 7 to 17 October 2025 to evaluate responses of D. barberi to multiple-funnel traps baited with a D. barberi lure at 5 distances (1.5, 3, 6, 9, and 12 m) from P. ponderosa treated with VPL and VPH. No significant differences in captures occurred among distances for VPL. For VPH, significant reductions in captures occurred at 1.5, 3, and 6 m compared to 12 m, with maximum inhibition (defined as the farthest distance at which the highest levels of inhibition occurred) observed up to 3 m. In a tree protection study, 5 plots containing 25 P. ponderosa were treated with VPH and 5 were left untreated in 2024 and 2025. Significantly less P. ponderosa mortality occurred on plots treated with VPH (27.4 ± 3.5%) than in the control (52.4 ± 3.9%) during the 2-year period. The implications of these and other results to management of D. barberi are discussed.

PMID:
42380065
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

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