Necrobia rufipes (De geer) infestation in pet food packaging and setup of a monitoring trap

Simple Summary Necrobia rufipes (Coleoptera: Cleridae) is an emerging pest of pet food stores. Information on infestation modalities for this pest is absent and specific monitoring tools are missing. In this paper, the adults’ and larvae’s ability to enter into pet food packaging was evaluated. Furthermore, to set up of a monitoring trap behavioral bioassays were carried out: testing two adhesive surfaces, one generally used in mouse glue trap and the other used in cockroach trap, to evaluate their ability in avoiding insects’ escape; screening different molecules, as candidate food attractants: methyl cyclopentenolone, squalene and stearic acid. The results evidenced that N. rufipes enter …