title: Capture of Mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in dry traps baited with a food-based attractant and Jackson traps baited with trimedlure during sterile male release in Guatemala.
abstract: Captures of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), in Jackson traps baited with trimedlure were compared with captures in cylindrical open-bottom dry traps baited with a food-based synthetic attractant (ammonium acetate, putrescine, and trimethylamine). Tests were conducted in Guatemala during a sterile male release program in an area where wild flies were present in low numbers. More wild and sterile females were captured in food-based traps, and more wild and sterile males were captured in trimedlure traps. The food-based traps captured almost twice as many total (male plus female) wild flies as the trimedlure traps, but the difference was not significant. Females made up approximately 60% of the wild flies caught in the food-based attractant traps; the trimedlure traps caught no females. The ratio of capture of males in trimedlure traps to food-based traps was 6.5:1 for sterile and 1.7:1 for wild flies. Because fewer sterile males are captured in the food-based traps, there is a reduction in the labor-intensive process of examining flies for sterility. The results indicate that traps baited with food-based attractants could be used in place of the Jackson/trimedlure traps for C. capitata sterile release programs because they can monitor distributions of sterile releases and detect wild fly populations effectively; both critical components of fruit fly eradication programs by using the sterile insect technique.
authors.affiliation: Subtropical Horticulture Research Station, USDA-ARS, 13601 Old Cutler Road, Miami, FL 33158, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Midgarden
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ovalle
authors.forename: Nancy D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Epsky
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Puche
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Kendra
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rendon
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Heath
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D005502:Food; D006166:Guatemala; D007300:Insect Control / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods*; D010675:Pheromones; D013245:Sterilization, Reproductive; D033621:Tephritidae
chemical_list: D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D010675:Pheromones; C010411:insect attractants; C045211:trimedlure