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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #248404

Title: Evaluation of Methyl Eugenol and Cue-Lure Traps with Solid Lure and Insecticide Dispensers for Fruit Fly Monitoring and Male Annihilation in the Hawaii Area-Wide Pest Management Program

Author
item Vargas, Roger
item MAU, RONALD - University Of Hawaii
item STARK, JOHN - Washington State University
item PINERO, JAIME - University Of Hawaii
item LEBLANC, LUC - University Of Hawaii
item SOUDER, STEVEN - University Of California

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/29/2009
Publication Date: 4/1/2010
Citation: Vargas, R.I., Mau, R.F., Stark, J.D., Pinero, J.C., Leblanc, L., Souder, S.K. 2010. Evaluation of Methyl Eugenol and Cue-Lure Traps with Solid Lure and Insecticide Dispensers for Fruit Fly Monitoring and Male Annihilation in the Hawaii Area-Wide Pest Management Program. Journal of Economic Entomology. J. Econ. Entomol. 103(2): 408-415.

Interpretive Summary: Worldwide, an important aspect of invasive fruit fly control or eradication is the development of more effective and safer detection systems. An important environmental concern of these trapping systems is that detection traps are currently deployed in association with toxic liquid insecticide formulations such as naled. In the present study conducted at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, we examined solid lure and insecticide dispensers as replacements for liquid lure and insecticide formulations. From a worker safety and convenience standpoint these devices 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 (over 30,000) used on the U.S. mainland. Furthermore, the novel FarmaTech wafer with methyl eugenol and raspberry ketone in the same dispenser might be used in a single trap in place of two separate traps for detection of both methyl eugenol and cue-lure responding fruit flies, thus saving thousands of dollars.

Technical Abstract: 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 fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and melon fly, B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), respectively. In low density areas, standard Jackson traps or Hawaii fruit fly Area-Wide Pest Management (AWPM) traps with FT Mallet ME wafers impregnated with dimethyl dichloro-vinyl phosphate (DDVP) or AWPM traps with Sentry 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 Sentry 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 Sentry cones and plugs (ME and C-L) with DDVP insecticidal strips over 6 mo. 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 Sentry 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 flies.