Objective To understand the mechanism of food foraging below ground of Melanotus cribricollis larva which is the dominant and most destructive soil-dwelling insect of bamboo shoots in south China and provide important basic information for the development of effective monitor and control techniques.

Method We tested the orientation behavior of M. cribricollis larvae towards bamboo shoot and CO₂-releasing capsules by using a dual-choice olfactometer. The volatiles emitted from Phyllostachys violascens shoot were tentatively identified by solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with GC-MS, and their relative content were determined as well.

Result Both bamboo shoot and CO₂ source could significantly induce the directional movement of the larvae of M. cribricollis. There was no significant difference in the larval behavior among different weights of bamboo shoots (P>0.05), whiel larval orientation behavior was significantly correlated with CO₂ concentration (P<0.05). Between bamboo and CO₂-releasing capsules, wireworms preferred significantly to the bamboo shoot (P<0.05). A total of 17 compounds emitted from Ph. violascens shoot were tentatively identified. The higher relative contents were olefins (66.62%) and sesquiterpenes (27.98%), and the sesquiterpene compound with the highest content was α-humulene.

Conclusion M. cribricollis larvae shows significant stronger orientation towards bamboo shoot and CO₂ source, and prefers bamboo shoot significantly. Compared with CO₂ source, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from bamboo shoot show to be more effective in food foraging of bamboo shoot wireworm. In addition, 7 terpene compounds with potential attraction to wireworms are identified in this study, which provids important basic information for the development of attract-and-kill formulations for the control of wireworms.