ARS | Publication request: Attraction of Cacopsylla pyricola (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) to Female Psylla in Pear Orchards

Submitted to: Environmental Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: March 20, 2009
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Repository URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10113/30426
Citation: Brown, R.L., Landolt, P.J., Horton, D.R., Zack, R.S. 2009. Attraction of Cacopsylla pyricola (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) to Female Psylla in Pear Orchards. Environmental Entomology 38(3):815-822.

Interpretive Summary: The pear psylla is the key pest of pear in the western U.S. and growers need to monitor and manage it. Scientists with USDA-ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA and Washington State University, Pullman, WA tested whether sticky traps baited with live insects attract male and female pear psylla. Results showed that traps baited with live females attracted significant numbers of male psylla, but had no effects on female psylla. These results provide a platform for future field tests of chemical sex pheromones once those pheromones have been identified and synthesized, with long-term practical benefits possibly including new tools with which to manage or monitor pear psylla.

Technical Abstract: The pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Förster), is a major economic pest of pears in North America and Europe. Laboratory studies have shown that males of both the summerform and winterform morphotypes in this species are attracted to volatiles from females. The present study tested whether attraction by males to females can be demonstrated in the field. Male psylla showed a clear preference for sticky traps that had been baited with live females compared to traps baited with live males or traps that were left unbaited. Female C. pyricola did not exhibit a preference among the three types of trap treatments. These results were obtained for both morphotypes. Trap catch was also monitored at 2 hr intervals to assess whether capture of males on female-baited traps varied with time-of-day. Summerform male C. pyricola were caught in highest numbers between 14:45 and 16:45 hrs while winterform males were most often captured between 13:00 and 17:00 hrs. In both trials, there was again a significant preference by males for the female-baited traps compared to unbaited traps.