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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #190344
Title: BITING FLY RESPONSES TO NZI TRAPS BAITED WITH OCTENOL, PHENOLS AND ACETONE

Author
item MIHOK, STEVE - ONTARIO, CANADA
item Carlson, David
item NDEGWA, PAUL - NAIROBI, KENYA

Submitted to: Medical and Veterinary Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/22/2006
Publication Date: 3/1/2007
Citation: Mihok, S., Carlson, D.A., Ndegwa, P.N. 2007. Biting fly responses to nzi traps baited with octenol, phenols and acetone. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 21(1):70-84.

Interpretive Summary: Odors from chemicals such as octenol, acetone, 4-methylphenol, 3-n-propylphenol, guiacol, and creosol have been associated with cattle. These and other attractants such as cattle urine, stable fly feces, carbon dioxide, and a heartbeat sound were tested as baits for unpowered black and blue Nzi traps. Field trials conducted in Ontario and Africa gave catches of horse flies and stable flies that were often doubled with octenol. A scientist from the USDA, ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL, assisted with bait formulation and field tests in Florida. Catches of tabanids and stable flies were also about 3.5 times higher on sticky enclosures baited with octenol. Acetone, urine, phenols, stable fly feces, and the heartbeat sound did not increase catches in North America. In previous extensive tests in Ethiopia, catches of one species of troublesome tsetse fly were about 3 times higher with acetone, cattle urine or octenol. Also, catches of several species of stable flies were 2.4 times higher but only with acetone bait. In Kenya, complex experiments with a ring of electric nets surrounding a trap revealed further diversity in responses to both visual and odors. Trap efficiency for most species was about 30% but Nzi traps caught more stable flies than unpowered colored traps such as the canopy, S3, NG2G, pyramidal, Vavoua, biconical and epsilon. This effort showed that useful information on behavior to improve the trapping of North American biting flies was obtained from overseas studies.

Technical Abstract: Chemicals such as octenol (1-octen-3-ol), acetone, 4-methylphenol, 3-n-propylphenol, guiacol, and creosol, and attractants such as cattle or human urine, stable fly feces, carbon dioxide, and the Bugjammer device (heartbeat sound), were tested as baits for Nzi traps. Field experiments were conducted in Ontario, Florida, and Africa. In Ontario, catches of tabanids and stable flies, but not mosquitoes (mostly Aedes Meigen), were doubled with a consumer formulation of octenol (Dragonfly Biting Insect Lure). Catches of tabanids and stable flies were also about 3.5 times higher on a sticky enclosure baited with octenol. Acetone, urine, phenols, stable fly feces, and the Bugjammer did not affect catches in North America. In Ethiopia, catches of the tsetse Glossina pallidipes Austen were 1.5 - 3.5 times higher in traps baited with acetone, cattle urine or octenol; catches of G. morsitans submorsitans Newstead were only slightly higher with any bait. Additive or synergistic effects were not apparent. In contrast, catches of stable flies, including Stomoxys calcitrans L., were 2.4 times higher with acetone alone. Octenol or cattle urine, either alone or in combination with acetone, did not affect catches of stable flies. In Kenya, experiments with an incomplete ring of electric nets surrounding a trap, and a sticky enclosure set on its own, revealed further diversity in responses to both visual and olfactory cues by stable flies and tsetse. Trap efficiency for most species was about 30%. Nzi traps caught more stable flies than traps such as the canopy, S3, NG2G, pyramidal, Vavoua, biconical and epsilon.