Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Miami, Florida » Subtropical Horticulture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #394585
Research Project: Mitigation of Invasive Pest Threats to U.S. Subtropical Agriculture

Location: Subtropical Horticulture Research

Title: Field Attraction and Aging Study of 2- And 3- Component Food-Based Lures for the Caribbean Fruit Fly, Anastrepha Suspensa (Diptera: Tephritidae) In South Florida

Author
item Cloonan, Kevin
item VAZQUEZ, AIME - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item Gill, Micah
item MOSSER, LISA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item CRANE, JONATHAN - University Of Florida
item CARRILLO, DANIEL - University Of Florida
item Kendra, Paul

Submitted to: Florida Entomological Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2022
Publication Date: 6/20/2022
Citation: Vázquez, A., Cloonan, K.R., Gill, M.A., Mosser, L.K., Crane, J.H., Carrillo, D., Kendra, P.E. (2022) Field attraction and aging study of 2- and 3- component food-based lures for the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Diptera: Tephritidae) in south Florida. 103rd Annual Meeting of the Florida Entomological Society. Gainesville, FL. 20-22 June 2022

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is well established in Florida as a pest of citrus, guava and other specialty fruits. To date, the most effective monitoring tools for Caribbean fruit fly include food-based baits and lures deployed in multilure traps. As part of a continued effort to identify attractive synthetic lures for the Caribbean fruit fly, we conducted field tests in Homestead, Florida to compare the efficacy and longevity of commercial 2- and 3-component cone lures (2C [ammonium acetate and putrescine], 3C [ammonium acetate, putrescine, and trimethylamine]) versus the traditional liquid protein bait consisting of hydrolyzed torula yeast and borax. Tests were conducted in guava, Surinam cherry, and loquat during the peak fruiting season (March-May). These 2- and 3- component cone lures are the current standards used by regulatory agencies. Additional lures were field-aged and analyzed in the laboratory to quantify residual chemical contents. The torula yeast-borax mixture captured the highest mean number of Caribbean fruit flies in all three hosts and the commercial 2C lures captured more flies than the 3C lures, apparently due to a repellent effect of trimethylamine. Captures with all three treatments were significantly biased toward females. Attractiveness of the 2C lure began to drop after 6-8 weeks, and the 3C lure after 5-6 weeks. Chemical analysis indicated that emissions of attractive chemicals from 2C and 3C lures decreased exponentially over time. This information will benefit regulatory agencies in designing appropriate monitoring programs for the Caribbean fruit fly in Florida.