No abstract

Surveillance for invading insect pests is costly and the trapper usually finds the traps empty of the target pest. Since the successful establishment of new pests is an uncommon event, multiple lures placed into one trap might increase the efficiency of the surveillance system. We investigated the effect of the combination of the Tephritidae male lures – trimedlure, cuelure, raspberry ketone and methyl eugenol – on catch of Ceratitis capitata , Zeugodacus cucurbitae , Bactrocera tryoni , B . dorsalis , B . aquilonis and B . tenuifascia in Australia and the USA (not all species are present in each country). The increase in trap density required to offset any reduction in catch due to the presence of lures for other Tephritidae was estimated. The effect of increasing trap density to maintain surveillance sensitivity was modelled for a hypothetical population of B . tryoni males, where the effective sampling area of cuelure traps for this species has been estimated. The 3-way combination significantly reduced the catch of the methyl eugenol-responsive B . dorsalis . Unexpectedly, we found that trimedlure-baited traps that contained methyl eugenol had ×3.1 lower catch of C . capitata than in trimedlure-only-baited traps in Australia, but not in Hawaii where no difference in catch was observed, we cannot satisfactorily explain this result. Based on the data presented here and from previous research, combinations of some male lures for the early detection of tephritid flies appear compatible and where there is any reduction in surveillance sensitivity observed, this can be offset by increasing the density of traps in the area.

The exposure of sterile male Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) to the aroma of essential oil derived from ginger root Zingiber officinale Roscoe (GRO) has been shown in field cage trials to increase their mating success. This field cage study compared the mating performance of mass reared sterile Mediterranean fruit fly males prepared for ground release programmes under four different post‐irradiation systems, two of which involved exposure of the flies to GRO aroma. In the first system, irradiated pupae were placed into non‐vented 5‐L paper tubs, individually aromatized by 20 μl of GRO (4 ml/m3) for 96–120 h until the adults were 2–3 days old. In the second system, irradiated pupae were placed in vented 5‐L paper tubs, exposed for 24 h in a GRO aromatized room (0.5 ml/m3) when the adults were 3 days old and contained until required for mating tests at 5 days old. The third and fourth systems were the same as the first two systems respectively, except that the flies were not exposed to GRO aroma. Significant differences in mating success were found among treatments. The exposure of 2 to 3‐day old flies to GRO aroma improved mating performance slightly compared with equivalent non‐exposed flies, but it was still below the minimum value accepted under international standards, while 27% of unexposed 5‐day‐old sterile males mated and had competitiveness (Fried value 0.38) slightly above this minimum level. GRO exposed 5‐day‐old flies had the highest mating percentage (67%) and a level of competitiveness (Fried value 1.81) based on induced sterility above that of wild flies (Fried value 1). The results indicate that the effectiveness of sterile male ground release programmes can be increased significantly by releasing 5‐day‐old sterile males that have been exposed to GRO in an entirely aromatized adult fly holding room.

Executive SummaryWe conducted this economic analysis at the request of USDA-APHIS-PPQ-EDP. Our objective was to quantitatively characterize the economic costs to apple, grape, orange and pear crops that would result from the introduction of the light brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana, into the conterminous United States. This information can be used to inform regulatory policy and funding decisions regarding LBAM.Our economic analysis had two components: 1) a geospatial analysis that identified areas at risk for LBAM establishment based on climate and hosts and 2) a quantitative analysis, using a probabilistic modeling approach, which estimated the economic losses LBAM could cause if introduced into these areas due to damage, control, quarantines and research. Economic effects outside of the agricultural crop (apple, grape, orange and pear) production sector, e.g. trade effects, are beyond the scope of this analysis and are not provided.Our geospatial analysis estimated that LBAM could establish throughout the majority of the conterminous United States. This establishment range included the majority of the growing area for the analyzed crops.Our quantitative model estimated the mean total annual costs if LBAM were introduced in the at-risk areas to be $118 million. The 5 th and 95 th percentile values were: $86 million and $150 million, i.e. 95 percent of the time, total annual costs exceeded $86 million.The combined results of our geospatial and quantitative analyses indicate that LBAM could cause substantial economic losses to U.S. apple, grape, orange and pear crops if introduced throughout the conterminous United States. We note LBAM is highly polyphagous and would probably cause additional economic damage to other crops and sectors of the U.S. economy, e.g. domestic and international trade. Also, because LBAM can occur in nursery stock,