John Mitchell asked:

1) Has anybody studied the range and behavior of "free-flying beetles"?
2) Could such "free-flying beetles" be enticed into poisoned bait traps
positioned around an apiary that would seem even more attractive than the
beehives, perhaps using a powerful pheramone lure?


Several individuals and groups are working on these issues.  Frank Eischen
has been looking at hive infestation dynamics and a variety of odors.  At
least two groups are working on pheromones - one government sponsored, one
private.  These things take time.  The beetle is smaller than a bee, so you
can imagine the logistics of "tracking free-flying beetles".

Since insects can distinguish among stereoisomers of the same compound, one
doesn't just whip up a bucket of beetle pheromone.  In other words, insects
may not respond to a synthetic pheromone that seems to be chemically
identical to the insect-produced pheromone - the difference being the
relative positions of atoms or groups of atoms attached to the carbon
backbone of the pheromone. Write down the chemical formula, and both
compunds would seem to be the same.  Draw the two, and if you can determine
the position of the isomers, you will that the two chemicals look
different, such as being mirror images of each other.

A colleague at another University almost went bankrupt after taking on a
contract to produce a moth pheromone for the forest service.  The pheromone
looked easy to make, so he bid low.  But the fine print required proof that
the male moth's would respond to the synthetic pheromone.  With great
confidence, he produced a batch AND  nothing!  The moth's couldn't care
less.  Then he found that the moth only respond to a very specific isomer,
which occurred in a very low amount in his batch of pheromone.  Making up
the lure with the proper structure turned out to be very difficult and
expensive.

I'm not apologizing for anyone, but I thougt this might give a glimpse into
the logistics of such a task.



Jerry J. Bromenshenk
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http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees