Todd,
Thanks for your question. It is a very good one. When studying the male antennae of certain species of museum insects, we find that they are programmed to respond to the female sex attractant scent. Much like a lock and key, if the female sex pheromone comes in contact with the male's antenna, certain electrical pulses trigger the male to react and seek out that pheromone. Whether or not the antenna can decipher the female pheromone in an area filled with other odors can probably only be answered on a case by case basis. I imagine that there are times when odors that appear strong to our noses are only background noise to a moth's antenna and it will still be able to track down the pheromone, but other odors likely interfere with the reception of the pheromone in the antennae. From a evolutionary standpoint, strong natural odors (decaying flesh, stagnant water, etc) are probably less likely to interfere with the moth's reception than strong synthetic chemical odors. That's just an opinion though that has not been tested. Anyway, I too would be happy to hear any stories from the front line of anyone using pheromone lures successfully or unsuccessfully in areas with strong odors. Pat Kelley ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Todd Holmberg <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 3, 2019 11:17:10 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [pestlist] Pheromone Lures Hello Everyone, Throughout the course of checking pheromone traps, I have been surprised our janitorial closets haven't seen more activity. I have placed traps in all the buildings janitor's closets because I thought those would for sure provide a good environment for webbing moths (dark, vacuums/dust mops etc.). Although no moth activity in any of the closets is a good surprise, it got me wondering if the pheromone lure scent has trouble "competing" with other smells. The janitors closets oftentimes have a fairly noticeable smell of cleaning materials. Can anyone speak to a pheromone lure to still being able to attract webbing cloths moths when placed in spaces with other noticeable odors (food, cleaning materials etc.)? If anyone has had experience one way or the other related to this, it would be interesting to hear about it. Thanks, Todd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAMxAh%2BgRXfBOt-NzHQ%2Bqic7pQ_YYb3czFXu%3Dmqyqm%3DOt6AaCew%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAMxAh%2BgRXfBOt-NzHQ%2Bqic7pQ_YYb3czFXu%3Dmqyqm%3DOt6AaCew%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/DM5PR1401MB1946F853EE91A36B3DB2ED78F88E0%40DM5PR1401MB1946.namprd14.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
