Capturing Males of Pestiferous Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Is the Combination of Triple-Lure Wafers and Insecticidal Strips as Effective as Standard Treatments? (original) (raw)
Related papers
2015
Detection of pestiferous Bactrocera fruit flies relies largely on traps baited with male-specific attractants. Surveillance programs in Florida and California use liquid methyl eugenol (ME, attractive to males of B. dorsalis (Hendel)) and liquid cue-lure (CL, attractive to males of B. cucurbitae (Coquillett)) mixed with the toxicant naled to bait traps. However, the application of the liquids requires considerable time and may subject personnel to health risks from inadvertent exposure to the lure and the insecticide. Recent studies have shown that solid dispensers containing a toxicant perform as well or better than liquid lures, but the combination of lure and toxicant in the same solid dispenser faces registration problems. Fewer studies have assessed the efficacy of solid, and separate, lures and toxicants, but existing data are promising. Here, we present the results of two independent studies that further assess the effectiveness of solid ME and CL lures and their associated, ...
Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 2011
Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and B. cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) are important agricultural pests of the Pacific region. Detection and control of these species rely largely on traps baited with malespecific attractants (parapheromones), namely methyl eugenol for B. dorsalis and cue lure for B. cucurbitae. Presently, these lures (plus naled, an insecticide) are applied in liquid form, although this procedure is timeconsuming, and naled as well as methyl eugenol may pose human health risks. Recently, a solid formulation (termed a wafer) has been developed that contains both male lures (plus DDVP, an insecticide), and here we present data from field tests in California and Hawaii that compare the effectiveness of liquid versus solid formulations of the lures in capturing marked, released males of these two Bactrocera species. For both species and in both California and Hawaii, traps baited with the solid formulation of the male lure captured similar or significantly more released flies than the liquid formulation for both fresh and aged baits. Traps in Hawaii also captured wild (unmarked) males of both B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae, and the results obtained for wild flies were similar to those recorded for released flies for both species. Collectively, the results presented suggest that the solid dispenser of the male lures constitutes a reliable substitute for the liquid formulation in detecting incipient Bactrocera outbreaks.
2013
Detection of pestiferous Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) relies largely on deployment of traps baited with male-specific attractants. Two species in particular, B. dorsalis (Hendel) and B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), pose serious threats to US agriculture, and males of these species are attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) and cue lure (CL), respectively. At present, these lures are applied as liquids (with naled added as an insecticide) to cotton wicks placed inside Jackson traps, a procedure that entails considerable handling time and potential health risk owing to inadvertent contact with the chemicals. Recent studies have demonstrated that solid dispensers containing male lures and the toxicant DDVP (dichlorvos) capture as many or more B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae males as the standard liquid formulation. Owing to registration requirements, deployment of solid dispensers requires the lure and the killing agent be presented in separate devices. The goal of this study was to compare capture of Bactrocera males between traps baited with the liquid formulation (lure and naled mixed) versus traps baited with solid lure-bearing plugs or wafers and separate DDVP strips (lure and DDVP separate). Field trapping was conducted in various areas of Oahu, Hawaii, using variable amounts of DDVP (0.09-0.295 g) in the traps with the solid dispensers. In general, for both B. cucurbitae and B. dorsalis, traps with wafers performed as well as traps with liquids regardless of lure age (fresh or aged 6 weeks), DDVP dose, test location, or lure presentation (ME and CL presented singly or combined). Traps with aged plugs also performed as well as aged liquids for both Bactrocera species under nearly all test conditions. However, in a large proportion of tests, fresh plugs captured significantly fewer males of both species than fresh liquids over the full range of DDVP doses tested. The implications of these findings for Bactrocera detection are discussed.
2019
Detection of the agricultural pests Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) relies heavily on traps baited with male-specific attractants. For B. dorsalis, traps are baited with liquid (6 ml) methyl eugenol (ME), while polymeric plugs containing trimedlure (TML; 2 g) are used in traps targeting C. capitata. In both cases, the attractant volatilizes rapidly, and lures are changed out every 6 weeks to insure high trap attractancy. Lures having greater longevity would be beneficial, because they would lengthen the trap servicing interval and thus reduce both supply and labor costs. Here, we tested the effectiveness of a saddle bag dispenser that (i) held two solid wafers impregnated with male lure, thus eliminating handling of liquid methyl eugenol (a potential carcinogen), (ii) was easy to place in traps, and (iii) allowed a high loading of male lure in trap (total loading of 6 g per trap for each lure). Field experiments, each lasting 12-14 weeks, were conducted on Hawaii island and Oahu, Hawaii, that compared captures of B. dorsalis and C. capitata males in traps baited in the standard manner versus traps baited with saddle bag dispensers. Traps baited with ME saddle bags weathered up to 12 or 14 weeks generally captured similar numbers of B. dorsalis males as traps baited with fresh ME liquid and significantly more males than traps baited with weathered ME liquid. Similar results were obtained for C. capitata: traps baited with TML saddle bags weathered up to 12 or 14 weeks captured similar numbers of C. capitata males as traps baited with fresh TML plugs and significantly more males than traps baited with weathered TML plugs.
2017
Detection of pestiferous fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) relies largely on traps baited with male-specific attractants. Surveillance programs in Florida and California use liquid methyl eugenol (ME, attractive to males of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)) and liquid cue-lure (CL, attractive to males of Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett)) mixed with the toxicant naled to bait detection traps. However, this practice requires considerable time and may subject personnel to health risks. Recent work indicates that solid male lures deployed with a separate insecticidal (DDVP) strip are as effective as the standard liquid formulations. Specifically, solid ME and CL dispensers and DDVP strips were weathered for 6 or 12 weeks under summer conditions in AZ and FL and subsequently field tested in Hawaii. Results showed that (i) solid ME dispensers weathered for 6 weeks, but not 12 weeks, were as attractive as fresh liquid ME, and (ii) solid CL dispensers and the insecticidal strips were as effe...
Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 2013
Approximately 70 species of Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are polyphagous economic pests that attack many important agricultural crops. Several of these Bactrocera species are also highly invasive, and many countries operate continuous, large-scale trapping programs to detect incipient infestations. Detection programs rely heavily on traps baited with male lures, with males of some species responding to raspberry ketone (RK; or its synthetic analogue cue-lure [CL]) and males of other species responding to methyl eugenol (ME). These lures (plus naled, an insecticide) are currently applied as liquids, although this procedure is time-consuming and may expose workers to health risks. Recent field tests, conducted largely in Hawaii, have shown that traps baited with a solid formulation (termed a wafer) that contains both RK and ME (plus dichlorvos, an insecticide) capture as many or more B. dorsalis (Hendel) and B. cucurbitae (Coquillett) males as traps baited with the standard liquid lures. While these results are promising, a more complete evaluation of the solid formulation requires testing in a region with a diverse assemblage of Bactrocera species, since interspecific variation in male response to lures has been reported. The objective of the present investigation was to assess the relative effectiveness of liquid versus solid formulations of male lures in Malaysia, a country known to harbor a large assemblage of Bactrocera species. Based on a 12-week sampling period, we found that, contrary to the Hawaiian results, traps baited with the wafer captured significantly fewer males than traps baited with liquid lures for all five ME-responding taxa analyzed and for one of the three RK/CL-responding species analyzed. Possible explanations for the discrepancy between these and earlier findings are offered.
Journal of Economic Entomology, 2010
Methyl eugenol (ME) and cue-lure (C-L) traps with solid lure dispensers were deployed in areas with low and high populations of oriental fruit ßy, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and melon ßy, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), respectively. In low-density areas, standard Jackson traps or Hawaii Fruit Fly Areawide Pest Management (AWPM) traps with FT Mallet ME wafers impregnated with dimethyl dichloro-vinyl phosphate (DDVP) or AWPM traps with Scentry ME cones and vapor tape performed equally as well as standard Jackson traps with liquid ME/C-L and naled. Standard Jackson traps or AWPM traps with FT Mallet C-L wafers impregnated with DDVP or AWPM traps with Scentry C-L plugs with vapor tape performed equally as well as standard Jackson traps with a lure-naled solution. In high density areas, captures with traps containing FT Mallet wafers (ME and C-L) outperformed AWPM traps with Scentry cones and plugs (ME and C-L) with DDVP insecticidal strips over a 6-mo period. Captures of B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae with wafers containing both ME and raspberry ketone (FT Mallet MC) were equivalent to those containing separate lures. From a worker safety and convenience standpoint, FT Mallet ME and C-L wafers with DDVP or Scentry plugs, with or without DDVP vapor tape, are more convenient and safer to handle than standard liquid insecticide formulations used for monitoring and male annihilation programs in Hawaii, and for detections traps used on the U.S. mainland. Furthermore, the FT Mallet MC wafer might be used in a single trap in place of two separate traps for detection of both ME and C-L responding fruit ßies.
Nontarget Insects Captured in Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Surveillance Traps
Journal of Economic Entomology, 2003
Traps baited with synthetic lures (ammonium acetate and putrescine) captured as many Mexican fruit ßies as the traditional torula yeast/borax slurry, but with far fewer (ratio 5:1) nontarget insects. Ninety percent of the nontarget insects were dipterans. Consequently, neither trap is efÞcacious against other citrus pests, which are mainly Hemiptera or Lepidoptera. Although the nontarget catch is sometimes referred to as "trash," many nontarget insects are beneÞcials, including predators and parasites (especially tachinids). The traps with synthetic lures killed fewer of these beneÞcials by a ratio of 4:1 compared with the yeast-baited traps. Certain taxa, notably the chrysopids and halictid bees, exhibited a somewhat greater preference (10 and 50%, respectively) for the synthetic lures. Overall, with regard to the deployment of the newer baits, the threat to predators, parasites, and pollinators was found to be negligible, and certainly much less than that posed by the traditional traps.
Journal of Economic Entomology, 2015
Monitoring population levels of the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), at the orchard level prior and during the fruit ripening period can result in significant savings in the costs of managing this pestiferous insect. Unfortunately, to date, no highly effective and economically viable trap is available to growers. To move toward this goal, trapÀlure combinations were evaluated in trials performed in citrus orchards in Veracruz, Mexico. CeraTrap, an enzymatic hydrolyzed protein from pig intestinal mucose, was 3.6 times more attractive to A. ludens than the most commonly used bait of Captor (hydrolyzed protein and borax) when using Multilure traps. When several commercial traps were evaluated, the efficacy of a simple and inexpensive transparent polyethylene (PET) bottle with 10-mm lateral holes was similar to that of the costly Multilure trap when baited with CeraTrap and significantly more effective than a Multilure trap baited with Captor. PET bottles filled with Cera Trap, rebaited at 8-wk intervals, and tested in trials encompassing 72 ha of citrus groves, were significantly more effective than Multilure traps baited with Captor that need to be serviced weekly. In addition to this relevant finding, CeraTrap baited traps detected A. ludens at lower population densities and attracted a significantly higher number of flies at all densities when compared with Captor-baited traps. We conclude that CeraTrap represents a cost-effective and highly efficient bait that will enable us to pursue the goal of developing economic thresholds, a badly needed management tool for A. ludens.