In field trapping tests the addition of 4‐oxoisophorone (2,6,6‐trimethylcyclohex‐2‐ene‐1,4‐dione) to the known ternary bisexual lure (consisting of phenylacetaldehyde + benzyl acetate + eugenol) significantly increased catches of the silver Y moth Autographa gamma, an important migratory noctuid pest. Both female and male moths were attracted, supposedly in the natural sex ratio of the local population. Traps baited with the quaternary lure caught 27.9% of the number of moths in traps baited with synthetic sex pheromone (all males), and the two types of lures showed similar seasonal trends when following the quantitative changes in moth flight throughout the whole season. This suggests that the improved quaternary bisexual lure could be efficient enough to yield a new tool for detection and monitoring of A. gamma, resulting in more reliable plant protection decisions based on female catches, and can provide data for studies where the catch of females and data on sex ratio are indispensable.
Lepidopteran assemblages were studied at 16 sampling sites in the Hajdúság Region between 2013 and 2020. Although studies targeted development of synthetic phenylacetaldehyde-based and semi-synthetic isoamyl alcohol-based baits for pest monitoring, traps caught 179 species belonging to the Sphingidae, Thyatiridae, Geometridae, Erebidae and Noctuidae families. Most species were pests or widely distributed generalists, but there were also many rare habitat specialists, for example, silvicol species, whose appearance was unexpected in the recently less forested region. The specificity of the two bait types tested differed notably both on family and subfamily levels. Semi-synthetic baits performed better and attracted a wide range of noctuids belonging mainly to the Xyleninae and Noctuinae subfamilies, while synthetic phenylacetaldehyde-based lures showed specificity to Plusiinae subfamilies with lower number of sampled species. Our data fill a gap of knowledge since the fauna studied formerly was nearly unknown and brings attention to the alternative use of volatile traps of agricultural pests in faunistical studies.
The vector of Grapevine Flavescens Dorée phytoplasma, the American grapevine leafhopper (Scaphoideus titanus) has been in Europe since 1924. In Romania, the first populations were detected in 2009 in the central, eastern and southern part of the country. Later, the leafhopper was found also in West Romania in 2014. In 2015 and 2017, altogether, 14 sampling sites were studied in two vine regions of this area. The Scaphoideus titanus could be detected in 10 of them with relatively small abundances. During the studies, the yellow sticky traps proved more effective methods than sweep netting. To prevent vineyards from disease, we should do everything against the vector from prevention to chemical protection.
Drosophila suzukii (spotted‐wing drosophila) spread rapidly during the first decade of the 2000s and then became widely distributed in Europe except for eastern countries. In Hungary, it was detected in 2012 for the first time, but its distribution in the eastern part of the country had been not studied. During the present investigation nine sampling sites in the north‐eastern part of the Carpathian lowlands belonging to Hungary, Ukraine and Romania were studied with baited traps. D. suzukii was detected in all seven Hungarian sites and in the one Western Ukrainian site where sampling occurred. Amongst the Hungarian sites, six had not previously been studied and the data provided here are the first for Western Ukraine and the second for this country following the published record from Yalta (Crimea, south‐east Ukraine).
Several plant bug species (Miridae) are important pests of crops and vegetables, thus monitoring them is of essential importance for effective pest control. During the current, preliminary study synthetic plant volatile combinations were tested in field conditions in Hungary in alfalfa fields. Beside semiochemical baited traps, sweep-netting was also performed. In the experiments three plant bug species were found in higher numbers: Adelphocoris lineolatus, Lygus rugulipennis and L. pratensis. As a novel, interesting finding L. pratensis was attracted to phenylacetaldehyde baited traps. For all species, both males and females were trapped in all combinations. Sweep-netting and semiochemical baited traps showed different efficacy in case of the three species, as sweep-netting catches were highly biased for A. lineolatus, which indicates the higher efficacy of this method as compared to the tested semiochemical-baited traps. On the other hand, semiochemical baited showed better performance for L. rugulipennis and L. pratensis. For these species none of the tested combinations performed better than phenylacetaldehyde baited traps. The potential implication of results in view of monitoring are discussed.
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