Evaluation of Mass Trapping Devices for Early Seasonal Management of Ceratitis Capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) Populations

Mass trapping is an environmentally safe alternative to insecticide application for the Mediterranean fruit fly management. The selection of effective trap-attractant combinations for monitoring and mass trapping control remains challenging. The current study explored the attractiveness of trapping devices during spring (early season) and summer (late season) in field cage trials. Five trapping devices were assessed: (a) the commercially available Decis® trap, (b) Tephri trap baited with Biodelear, (c) Tephri trap baited with BioLure, (d) International Pheromone McPhail trap (IPMT) baited with Biodelear, and (e) IPMT baited with BioLure. On a test day, 100 adults (50 males and 50 females) were released in each field cage wherein traps were placed individually. Trap captures were recorded at hourly intervals from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. Our results showed that Tephri traps baited either with BioLure or Biodelear captured the most adults under low temperatures. Efficacy of Tephri traps baited with BioLure were higher than that of other trap-attractant combinations at high temperatures. Adult captures in Decis® trap were low during both seasons. More males than females were captured at low temperatures. Both efficacy and female selectivity of trapping devices are related to prevailing temperature regimes during spring and summer under semi-field conditions.

Aydın İli Zeytin Alanlarında Zeytin Sineği (Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin)) (Diptera: Tephritidae)’ nin Populasyon Değişimleri ve Zararı

Emergence period of Olive fly (Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin)) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and its population changes and damage on the fruits were studied in three olive orchards in Umurlu, Dalama and Çakmar districts in Aydın province. During the study, one McPhail trap with 2 per cent diammonium phosphate liquid (McPhail), one yellow visual trap with pheromone capsule on (YVTP), and three yellow visual traps mounted an eppendorf capsule within pure ammonium acetate (AA) were placed in each olive orchards. Studies were conducted between 2009-2011 years, and the traps were counted weekly. As a result of population monitoring, first flies were seen on the traps in mid-October and continued during the season till mid-December when its emergence ended. The population levels were too low during the study. However, as the population peaked, the higher population level was determined on YVTP with 307.0 individual/trap in olive orchard in Umurlu district in October 30, 2009. On the other hand, it was counted 70,0 individual/trap in McPhail and 51.3 individual/trap in avarage in AA. The damage on the fruit was the highest in Umurlu with 17.2 per cent in 2009. The population levels in Dalama and Çakmar were 45.0 and 3.0 individual/trap in pheromone traps, and 8.0 and 1.0 individual/trap in avarage in AA, respectively. The damages on the fruits were 8.9 and 3.7 per cent in Dalama and Çakmar, respectively. The population level and damage were appeared in a very low levels in the following years of the study.

Lance flies associated with sweet passion fruit and contributions to the knowledge on Lonchaeidae in Peru

ABSTRACT The Lonchaeidae family comprises species that are considered of major economic importance due of their damage in several crops. In sweet passion fruit (Passiflora ligularis Juss), these flies cause high infestation in flower buds and fruits, however only a few basic studies about the species associated with the damage are available. Samples of flower buds and fruits were taken and McPhail trap baits with Torula yeast were placed in sweet passion fruit orchards in Oxapampa (Pasco, Peru) in 2015–2016. In addition, other hosts were collected in this period. We found Dasiops inedulis Steykal infesting the flower buds, while Dasiops frieseni Norrbom & McAlpine infesting sweet passion fruits. Moreover, other Lonchaeidae-hosts interactions are related. Through Torula yeast baits, 14 species of lance flies were detected and high numbers of D. inedulis specimens were captured.

Establishment of economic injury levels for olive infestation by Dαcus oleαe, in Corfu

Economic injury levels for cover sprays and air bait sprays were established for the infestation by Dacus oleae (Gmelin) (Diptera: Tephritidae). For cover sprays, the economic injury levels (expressed as percent infestation by taking 30,000 fruits to represent the average number of fruits per tree) were calculated as 7.59% for infestation laid in late July-August, 6.16% for infestation in September and 10.31% for infestation in October. For air bait sprays, economic injury levels were calculated for various fruiting conditions (expressed as proportion of trees bearing olive fruits) and they were much lower than for cover sprays due to the lower cost of air treatments. For July-August, they ranged from 5.07% infestation for 25% trees bearing olives to 1 .27% for 100% trees with olive fruits. For September they ranged from 4.11% to 1.08% infestation, for October they ranged from 6.88% to 1 .72% infestation and for infestation laid in November they ranged from 61.28% to 15.32% infestation, respectively. The economic injury levels for air bait sprays were also expressed as mean weekly number of females per McPhail trap by taking into account the potential fecundity of D. oleae and the efficiency of the McPhail trap (baited with protein hydrolysate 2% and borax 1 .5%) at different times of the year. For September, they ranged from 16 females per trap for groves with 25% of trees bearing olive fruits, to 4 females per trap for 100% trees with fruits. For October, they ranged from 6 females per trap to I female per trap, respectively.

The electronic McPhail trap

Certain insects affect cultivations in a detrimental way. A notable case is the Olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) that in Europe alone causes billions of euros crop loss per year. Pests can be controlled with aerial and ground bait pesticide sprays, the efficiency of which depends on knowing the time and location of insect infestations as early as possible. The inspection of traps is currently carried out manually. Automatic monitoring traps can enhance efficient monitoring of flying pests by identifying and counting targeted pests as they enter the trap. This work deals with the hardware setup of an insect trap with an embedded opto-electronic sensor that automatically records insects as they fly in the trap. The sensors responsible for detecting the insect is an array of phototransistors receiving light from an infrared LED. The wing-beat recording is based on the interruption of the emitted light due to the partial occlusion from insect’s wings. We show that the recording are of high quality paving the way for automatic recognition and transmission of insect detections from the field to a smartphone. This work emphasizes the hardware implementation of the core sensor giving all necessary implementation details needed to construct it.

The electronic McPhail trap

Certain insects affect cultivations in a detrimental way. A notable case is the Olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) that in Europe alone causes billions of euros crop loss per year. Pests can be controlled with aerial and ground bait pesticide sprays, the efficiency of which depends on knowing the time and location of insect infestations as early as possible. The inspection of traps is currently carried out manually. Automatic monitoring traps can enhance efficient monitoring of flying pests by identifying and counting targeted pests as they enter the trap. This work deals with the hardware setup of an insect trap with an embedded opto-electronic sensor that automatically records insects as they fly in the trap. The sensors responsible for detecting the insect is an array of phototransistors receiving light from an infrared LED. The wing-beat recording is based on the interruption of the emitted light due to the partial occlusion from insect’s wings. We show that the recording are of high quality paving the way for automatic recognition and transmission of insect detections from the field to a smartphone. This work emphasizes the hardware implementation of the core sensor giving all necessary implementation details needed to construct it.