Surprisingly, natural enemies are not commonly attracted by verbenone, but more taxa need to be studied. In this context, we advocate to recognise a bark beetle and its microbiome as an entity (‘holobiont’), to better understand temporal release patterns and deduce the specific function of verbenone for a given species. It is not clear whether the beetles can control the biosynthesis of verbenone its release may not be an active signal by the beetles, but a passive cue resulting from microorganisms during host colonisation. Indeed, attraction is inhibited in 38 species from 16 genera, while some secondary species are unaffected or even attracted to verbenone. ![]() Behavioural responses to verbenone are common among pest bark beetles (< 1% of scolytine species studied so far). ![]() Here, we review and analyse the scientific literature from more than 50 years. In fact, most research effort has gone into applied studies, leaving many questions regarding the ecological functions of verbenone for various species unanswered. However, some studies aiming to protect trees with verbenone have failed. The compound verbenone was discovered early in the history of bark beetle pheromone research and is now sometimes referred to as a ‘universal bark beetle repellent’. Their behaviour is largely guided by complex olfactory cues. ![]() Bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) spend most of their life in tissues of host plants, with several species representing economically relevant pests.
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