LAUSR

Abstract A sexual attractant of some Phyllophaga species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae), methyl 2-(methylthio)benzoate, was studied alone and in combination with light from a solar-powered light-emitting diode (LED) to determine their comparative attraction potential for Phyllophaga species in a sugarcane crop. Four trap treatments were evaluated: sex attractant, sex attractant plus light, light alone, and a control trap without attractant or light. The number and species of Phyllophaga captured were determined over two 5 mo adult emergence periods from Mar–Jul in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, the cytochrome oxidase I (CO1) gene of the species that responded to the compound was amplified, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed using those sequences and sequences found in GenBank. Two species of Phyllophaga, Phyllophaga brevidens (Bates) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Phyllophaga lenis (Horn) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), responded to the compound. The traps with sex attractant plus light treatment captured significantly more beetles than the other treatments. Our results suggest that the combination of methyl 2-(methylthio)benzoate and light can be a relatively selective method for the capture of the males of these species of agricultural importance, and it also attracts some females. Finally, analysis of the sequences of the mitochondrial CO1 gene showed that the Phyllophaga species captured with this compound were phylogenetically related.