Exploring market-available commercial pheromone lures and traps for controlling the hibiscus bud weevil, anthonomus testaceosquamosus (coleoptera: curculionidae)

Authors: ATAIDE, LIVIA - University Of Florida; GREENE, DANIEL - High Point University; Cloonan, Kevin; Gill, Micah; VARGAS, GERMAN - Cornell University; Tabanca, Nurhayat; ARAUZ, ISAMAR - University Of Florida; VALEZQUEZ-HERNANDEZ, YISELL - University Of Florida; REVYNTHI, ALEXANDRA - University Of Florida

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2024
Publication Date: 5/21/2024
Citation: Ataide, L.M., Greene, D.A., Cloonan, K.R., Gill, M.A., Vargas, G., Tabanca, N., Arauz, I.R., Valezquez-Hernandez, Y., Revynthi, A.M. 2024. Exploring market-available commercial pheromone lures and traps for controlling the hibiscus bud weevil, anthonomus testaceosquamosus (coleoptera: curculionidae). Journal of Economic Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toae105.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toae105

Interpretive Summary: The hibiscus bud weevil (HBW) arrived in Florida in 2017 and is a pest of China rose hibiscus. Female weevils lay their eggs in the buds of hibiscus plants where the larvae grow and develop. The feeding larvae causes the buds to drop prematurely before flowers bloom reducing their desirability to consumers. Since 70% of the hibiscus plants sold in the U.S. are grown in Florida, this pest has the potential for serious economic impact to the industry. Early detection of the pest in nurseries would allow hibiscus growers to better manage this pest. However, there are no traps or attractive lures currently available to growers for monitoring the HBW. Thus, to develop a monitoring tool for HBW, scientists from the University of Florida (Homestead, Florida), High Point University (High Point, North Carolina), Cornell University (Portland, New York), and the USDA-ARS (Miami, Florida) investigated the use of traps and lures that are currently commercially available for other weevil pests as monitoring tools for the HBW. The results from this study found that yellow sticky card traps captured the greatest number of HBW, and that the cranberry weevil lure was the most attractive lure tested. This information provides hibiscus growers with a trap and lure combination for monitoring the HBW in their nurseries to use as a tool for making better management decisions.

Technical Abstract: The hibiscus bud weevil (HBW), Anthonomus testaceosquamosus Linell, is a significant threat to China rose hibiscus in Florida, U.S., since its invasion in 2017. As a regulated pest in the state, early detection is crucial for an effective integrated pest management (IPM) program. Based on the success of pheromone-based monitoring programs for other weevil pests, such as the boll weevil, cranberry weevil, and pepper weevil, this study explores the potential use of these pheromone lures for early detection of HBW. To account for differences in efficacy based on trap color, height, and design, different pheromone lure sizes (4 mm, 10 mm, full-size), trap types (sticky trap, Japanese beetle trap, boll weevil trap), and heights (0 m, 1.5 m) were also tested in this study. In laboratory assays males and females exhibited higher attraction to full-size cranberry weevil pheromone discs compared to other lure size-type combinations when summed across all timepoints tested. In semi-field trials, yellow sticky traps baited with cranberry weevil lures captured more weevils than Japanese beetle or boll weevil traps baited with with cranberry weevil lures, while trap height did not influence HBW capture. In semi-field, four-choice bioassays, yellow sticky traps baited with cranberry weevil lures captured more HBW compared to yellow sticky traps baited with pepper weevil, boll weevil, or unbaited traps. Further research is required to thoroughly evaluate the cranberry weevil lure's efficacy in capturing HBW. Our study, however, suggests the potential for utilizing yellow sticky traps baited with congeneric pheromone lures for early HBW detection and highlights the importance of selecting appropriate lure size, trap type and height for optimal efficacy.