Weathering of Methyl Eugenol Solid Dispensers: Effects on Residual Amount, Release Rate, and Field Capture of Bactrocera dorsalis Males (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a global agricultural pest that attacks many commercially important fruits and vegetables. Many countries maintain trapping programs to detect incursions of this pest, and trapping relies heavily on methyl eugenol, a powerful attractant to B. dorsalis males, which typically is applied as a liquid to a cotton wick contained inside Jackson traps. However, this method is time-consuming, incurs high volatility (i.e., loss) of the lure, and entails health risks. Existing data indicate that solid dispensers of methyl eugenol are a viable alternative to the use of liquid lure. Based on fieldwork in a Hawaiian coffee field, the present study shows nonsignificant differences in captures of wild B. dorsalis males over 12-wk intervals between traps baited with a wick containing 6 mL of freshly applied liquid methyl eugenol and traps baited with a polymeric plug or wafer that contained a similar amount of methyl eugenol. The residual content of methyl eugenol also was measured for solid dispensers over the weathering period, but their long-lasting attractancy (≥ 12 wk) precluded identification of the threshold level of the lure below which solid dispensers were ineffective. Implications of these findings for trapping programs are discussed.

Relationship between Field Captures of Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the Residual Amount and Release Rate of Trimedlure from Polymeric Plugs

“…However, if the other male lures (methyl eugenol and cue-lure) also were shown to be effective for 8 wk, then the replacement interval could be lengthened from 6 to 8 wk for all male lures, which would reduce the number of lure replacements from approximately 8 per yr to 6 per yr and likely result in substantial cost reductions. Data on 6 g methyl eugenol plugs are encouraging and indicate an effective field longevity of at least 12 wk (Shelly et al 2022), while data on cue-lure plugs are being gathered presently in Hawaii.…”

Geographical distribution of two major quarantine fruit flies (Bactrocera minax Enderlein and Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel) in Sichuan Basin based on four SDMs

“…Recently, some scholars have studied B. minax and B. dorsalis , mainly focuses on biology ( Sánchez-Rosario et al, 2022 ; Akami et al, 2022 ), ecology ( Diesner et al, 2022 ), quarantine and treatment technology ( Maktura, Paranhos & Marques-Souza, 2021 ; Hou et al, 2021 ), integrated prevention and control technology ( Shelly et al, 2022 ; Yoshida et al, 2021 ), but there is no research on theirs geographical division in China. In this article, we predicted the distribution of B. minax and B. dorsalis with SDMs, obtained the key environmental factors affecting theirs geographical distribution, and delimited theirs suitable area.…”