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The invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, (White Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) continues to spread throughout the Eastern United States. This species exhibits a broad host range, with tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, commonly referred to as the preferred host. Here, we evaluated 2-wk survivorship of early nymphal instars, late nymphal instars, and adult L. delicatula on single diets of ten wild and cultivated hosts: tree of heaven; apple, Malus domestica; peach, Prunus persica; black cherry, P. serotina Ehrh; black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia L.; black walnut, Juglans nigra L.; common hackberry Celtis occidentalis L.; mulberry Morus alba L.; sugar maple Acer saccharum Marshall; white oak, Quercus alba L.. Among them, early and late instars had significantly greater survivorship on tree of heaven and black walnut and adults had greatest survivorship on tree of heaven. Additionally, we evaluated development and survivorship of L. delicatula from newly hatched nymphs to adulthood on single diets of tree of heaven, black walnut, grapevine, apple, and peach, and mixed diets of tree of heaven plus one other host. Single host diets that supported L. delicatula development to adulthood were tree of heaven and black walnut. Interestingly, mixed diets also supported development, and reduced development time to adults by up to 12% compared with the single tree of heaven diet. Our results suggest that within agroecosystems and across landscapes, L. delicatula can develop on single hosts such as tree of heaven, but also on multiple host plants, yielding adults earlier in the growing season.

No abstract

Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is an invasive pest in North America and Europe that attacks soft-skinned ripening fruit such as raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Little is known regarding the specific cues D. suzukii utilizes to locate and select host fruit, and inconsistencies in trap performance indicate the need for the development of improved monitoring and management techniques for this insect. Our studies focused on identifying attractive visual cues for adult D. suzukii and incorporating these cues into a potential attract-and-kill tactic for D. suzukii management. We evaluated D. suzukii response to color, shape, and size-specific stimuli. For color, we evaluated 10.2-cm-diameter spheres painted black, red, purple, orange, green, yellow, blue, or white. Shape stimuli (254 cm surface area) included sphere, cube, pyramid, inverted pyramid, vertical or horizontal cylinder and were painted red. Size stimuli included red 2.5-, 10.2-, 15.2-, and 25.4-cm-diameter spheres. Trials were conducted under laboratory, semifield, and field conditions. For color, adults preferred black and red spheres to all other colors evaluated. Among shapes, there was no significant preference. For size, larger spheres captured significantly more D. suzukii compared with a small 2.5-cm-diameter sphere. Determining D. suzukii visual preference will aid in trapping and behaviorally based management programs.

No abstract