Necrobia rufipes (De Geer) Infestation in Pet Food Packaging and Setup of a Monitoring Trap

Necrobia rufipes (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Cleridae), also known as the red-legged ham beetle, is a newly emerging pest of pet food stores, causing apprehension among producers worldwide. Concerns about this pest are exacerbated by the lack of information about infestation modalities in pet food, while specific monitoring tools are missing. Considering that adequate pet food packaging could limit N. rufipes infestations, information about the penetration modalities in commonly used pet food packaging is needed. Moreover, the development of appropriate monitoring instruments is urgent to detect pest presence early and to reduce chemical treatments for its control. In this paper, the adults’ and larvae’s ability to enter into pet food packaging was evaluated. Furthermore, to develop monitoring traps, behavioral bioassays were done: (1) testing two different commercial adhesive surfaces, one generally used in mouse glue traps (MG), and the other used in cockroach glue traps (CG), to evaluate their different abilities in avoiding insects’ escape; (2) screening different molecules, typical of the substrates attacked by N. rufipes, as candidate food attractants for this pest: methyl cyclopentenolone (MCP), squalene (SQ), and stearic acid (SA). The results show that N. rufipes adults and larvae enter into packaging through the air vent valves on the bottom, suggesting that a way to improve the packaging to prevent insect infestation would be to modify these points of weakness. Laboratory tests show that the different bioassayed glues have strong differences in the ability to retain the caught insects, with MG being more effective than CG. The behavioral bioassay indicated that MCP and SQ attract N. rufipes adults in olfactometer. Finally, the results of dual-choice arena bioassays show that among the candidate attractant tested, a mixture of pet food (PF) and MCP elicited the strongest attraction in N. rufipes adults. These results encourage further experiments with the use of an MG adhesive trap loaded with a mixture of PF+MCP to test the effectiveness of such a tool for monitoring N.rufipes in pet food industries and warehouses.

Sharpening the Precision of Pest Management Decisions: Assessing Variability Inherent in Catch Number and Absolute Density Estimates Derived from Pheromone-Baited Traps Monitoring Insects Moving Randomly

During a trapping study interval, each target insect is either caught or not caught. Therefore, the current analysis treats trapping as a binomial process. Data from a binomial calculator, along with computer simulations of random walkers, documented that the inherent variance associated with estimates of absolute population density generated by a single catch number in a pheromone-baited monitoring trap becomes very high when catch probability averaged across the trap’s sampling area falls below 0.02, as is the case for most insect trapping systems operating in the open field. The imprecision associated with interpretations of single catch numbers renders many current pest management decisions risky and unsatisfactory. Here we reinforce how single-trap, multiple-release experiments can and should be used to measure catch probability, plume reach, and trap sampling area. When catch probability lies in the danger zone below 0.02, steps are suggested for how multiple traps might be deployed to raise composite catch probability to a level where estimates of absolute pest density become reliable. Heat transfer is offered as an appropriate conceptual model for the mechanics of trapping. A call is made for a radical rethinking in the designs of insect monitoring traps in light of their significant current deficits highlighted by this study.

Estimating Monitoring Trap Plume Reach and Trapping Area for Nymphal and Adult Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Crop and Non-crop Habitats

Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive polyphagous insect that can cause serious economic injury to specialty and row crops in the United States and globally. To date, H. halys has been managed with repeated insecticide applications. While progress has been made toward development of trap-based monitoring tools to guide management decisions, little is known regarding the trapping area over which a single pheromone-baited trap captures H. halys. We conducted single trap, multiple distance mark-release-recapture experiments; results were used to estimate trapping area for nymphs and adults in sites without host plants present (open field) and for adults in sites with host plants present (apple orchard). Plume reach for pheromone-baited sticky traps was consistently estimated to be <3 m. Maximum dispersive distance in an open field devoid of host plants was estimated to be 40 m for nymphs and 120–130 m for adults resulting in trapping areas of 0.58 ha and 4.83–5.56 ha, respectively. When traps were deployed in association with host plants within the border row of an apple orchard, adult maximum dispersive distance and trapping area was reduced to 70 m and 1.67 ha, respectively. These results indicate that the behavioral response of H. halys to pheromonal stimuli is influenced by the presence of host plants and that trapping area for pheromone-baited traps will likely change relative to the cropping system in which it is deployed. Caution should be taken when extrapolating these results, because the measured values may differ in other crop systems.

Monitoring and mass-trapping methodologies using pheromones: the lesser date moth Batrachedra amydraula

The lesser date moth (LDM) Batrachedra amydraula is a significant pest of date palm fruits. Previously, detection and monitoring of the pest was inaccurate due to high costs of sampling with lifting machines. We report a practical system for detection and monitoring of LDM based on pheromone traps and relevant models. Dose–response experiments with LDM pheromone traps indicated a 1 mg lure is optimal for monitoring. Delta traps with adhesive covering their entire inner surface gave the highest captures while trap colour was unimportant. Sampling pheromone traps throughout the night indicated male flight began at 1:00–2:00 and reached a peak 2 h before sunrise. Monitoring traps exposed all year long in Israel revealed three generations with different abundance. Trapping transects in a date plantation indicated interference from a monitoring trap became minimal at distances >27 m away. Inter-trap distances closer than this may lower efficiency of monitoring and mass trapping in control programs. Our estimate of the circular effective attraction radius (EARc) of a 1 mg delta trap for LDM (3.43 m) shows this bait is among the most attractive compared with baits for other insects. We developed encounter-rate equations with the pheromone trap EARc to model the interplay between population levels, trap density and captures that are useful for detection of invasive LDM and its control by mass trapping. The integrated methodologies are applicable to many pest species.

Activity Patterns of Sand Fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) Species and Comparative Performance of Different Traps in an Endemic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Focus in Cukurova Plain, Southern Anatolia, Turkey

An entomological survey for sand flies was conducted from May to October 2006 in a village near an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Cukurova Plain, south Anatolia, Turkey. Standard CDC light traps, CO2 traps, sticky traps, mouth aspirators, animal-baited traps and human landing collection were used to determine species composition, density and nocturnal activity of sand fly species. BG-Sentinel Trap, a novel monitoring trap originally developed to attract mosquitoes, was also tested to investigate its efficiency for sand flies. Overall, 4 048 specimens belonging to four species of genus Phlebotomus Rondani et Berté 1840 and two of genus Sergentomyia França et Parrot 1920 were collected. Phlebotomus tobbi Adler, Theodor et Lourie 1930, the proven vector of Leishmania infantum Nicolle 1908 was found to be the most abundant (65.6%) species while P. sergenti Parrot 1917, the proven vector of L. tropica (Wright, 1903) in Turkey accounted for 0.1% of the sand flies that were identified. Other species, P. perfiliewi galilaeus (Theodor 1958), P. papatasi (Scopoli, 1786), Sergentomyia dentata (Sinton, 1933) and Sergentomyia theodori (Parrot, 1942) represented 31%, 2%, 1.5% and 0.3 % of the sand fly fauna, respectively. Aggregate population of sand flies was found to be the lowest in May. Population size rose through June and July, with the highest peak in August, and decreased through September and October. Among the traps used, CO2 traps were found to offer a more suitable and productive method than others for both estimating the species composition and the population density of sand flies in the study area. Studies on the nocturnal activity indicated that even the number of captures declined rapidly during dusk period, between 04.00 and 06.00 h, in general, no significant hourly pattern was determined neither the species prevalence nor the nocturnal activity of the species. According to statistical analysis the variation in hourly nighttime temperature did not influence the nocturnal activity of the species whereas the number of collected sand flies during nocturnal period was strongly associated with relative humidity.