Separating the attractant from the toxicant improves attract-and-kill of codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).
The behavior of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), responding to three attract-and-kill devices was compared in flight tunnel experiments measuring attraction and duration of target contact. Placing a 7.6 by 12.6 cm card immediately upwind of a rubber septum releasing pheromone, dramatically increased the duration on the target to > 60 s. In this setting, nearly all the males flew upwind, landed on the card first, and spent the majority of time searching the card. In contrast, male codling moths spent < 15 s at the source if given the lure only. In a forced contact bioassay, knockdown rate or mortality of male codling moths increased in direct proportion to duration of contact on a lambda-cyhalothrin-loaded filter paper. When this insecticide-treated paper was placed immediately upwind of the lure in the flight tunnel, > 90% of males contacting the paper were knocked down 2 h after voluntary exposure. These findings suggest that past attempts to combine insecticide directly with sex pheromones into a small paste, gel, or other forms of dollops are ill-advised because moths are likely over-exposed to pheromone and vacate the target before obtaining a lethal dose of insecticide. It is better to minimize direct contact with the concentrated pheromone while enticing males to extensively search insecticide-treated surface nearby the lure.
Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, 578 Wilson Road, East Lansing, MI 48864, USA. huangju@msu.edu
Juan
J
Huang
Larry J
LJ
Gut
James R
JR
Miller
D000818:Animals; D007851:Dodecanol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods*; D007306:Insecticides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009036:Moths / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009570:Nitriles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011722:Pyrethrins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011897:Random Allocation
D007306:Insecticides; D009570:Nitriles; D010675:Pheromones; D011722:Pyrethrins; C010411:insect attractants; D007851:Dodecanol; C001977:8,10-dodecadien-1-ol; C037304:cyhalothrin