Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #155661
Title: Broadcasts of wing-fanning vibrations recorded from calling male Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) increase captures of females in traps

Author
item Mankin, Richard
item ANDERSON, J - BIOL DEPT, U OF MISS, OXF
item MIZRACH, A - AG ENGR, VOLCANI CTR, ISR
item Epsky, Nancy
item Shuman, Dennis
item Heath, Robert
item MAZOR, M - PLNT PROT, VOLCANI CTR
item HETZRONI, A - AG ENGR, VOLCANI CTR, ISR
item GRINSPUN, J - AG ENGR, VOLCANI CTR, ISR
item TAYLOR, P - PSYCH DEPT, MACQUARIE UN,
item GARRETT, S - PSU, STATE COLLEGE, PA

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/8/2004
Publication Date: 8/1/2004
Citation: Mankin, R.W., Anderson, J.B., Mizrach, A., Epsky, N.D., Shuman, D., Heath, R.R., Mazor, M., Hetzroni, A., Grinspun, J., Taylor, P.W., Garrett, S.L. 2004. Broadcasts of wing-fanning vibrations recorded from calling male Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) increase captures of females in traps. Journal of Economic Entomology. 97:1229-1309.

Interpretive Summary: Mediterranean fruit flies attack scores of fruits and vegetables and monitoring of their populations is critical to their control and eradication. Scientists at the Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL, the Volcani Center, Israel, the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station, Miami, FL, Macquarie University, Australia, and Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, have cooperated in studies where female medflies were trapped using playbacks of recorded male calling song. These traps may be useful for monitoring wild populations of medflies in areas where sterile males are released to control populations.

Technical Abstract: Female medflies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), were exposed to broadcasts of male calling song at different sound levels, continuous tones at the same frequency as calling song, and silent mimics to investigate the feasibility of developing a female-selective acoustic trap. Additional bioassays were conducted with visually attractive stimuli to examine the relative responsiveness of female medflies to acoustic and visually attractive cues in different contexts. Females did not exhibit phonotaxis in response to broadcast male calling song, but they remained near a speaker significantly longer when song was broadcast at >93 dB Sound Pressure Level than when the speaker was silent. As a result, the percentage of females captured on yellow adhesive traps next to a speaker was significantly higher when calling song was broadcast at high intensity than when the speaker was silent. The effective range (active space) of the broadcast song was <0.5 m, which would limit the utility of this system in a large-scale monitoring program. However, further increases in the attractivity of broadcast male calling song to female medflies may result from identification of additional relevant song features and from combinations of optimally stimulatory acoustic, olfactory, and visual cues.