A comparison of the Nzi, Horse Pal^®and Bite-Lite^®H-traps and selected baits for the collection of adult Tabanidae in Florida and North Carolina

Abstract

Despite the veterinary and medical importance of horse flies, deer flies, and yellow flies, only a few trap types have been evaluated to monitor adult population dynamics. Currently, three trap types are being utilized (H-trap, Horse Pal® (HP), and Nzi trap), but no head-to-head comparisons have been reported. Thus, we conducted comparative trapping studies in Florida and North Carolina. At two study sites in Florida, the efficacy of all three trap types was compared, but only the H-trap and HP were compared in North Carolina. Although trap type was significant at all sites, the trap type which caught the most specimens was not the same. In Florida at the Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge (LSWR) site, the H-trap caught the most specimens (2,006), followed in decreasing order by Nzi (938) and HP (541). At the Cedar Ridge Ranch site, the Nzi caught significantly more specimens (1,439) than the H-trap (215) and HP (161), which were not significantly different from each other. In North Carolina, the H-trap caught approximately twice as many specimens as the HP (1,458 vs 720). These trap comparison studies were followed up by a study on the efficacy of various bait combinations: (No Bait (NB), dry ice only (DI), Trap Tech Lure (TTL) only, and DI + TTL), which was conducted only at the two Florida sites with H-traps. At both sites, bait combinations significantly affected trap collections. One pattern (DI +TTL > DI > TTL > NB) was recorded at the LSWR, while at the Cedar River Ranch the pattern was DI > DI +TTL > TTL > NB. Our data showed that trap type and bait combination significantly influence overall adult tabanid abundance as well as individual species composition.

Tests of durable Nzi traps for horseflies (Diptera: Tabanidae) in the United States of America, the Sudan, and the Philippines

“…4). As a commercial control (Kline et al 2018), we tested the Horse Pal® trap (Newman Enterprises, Omro, Wisconsin, United States of America) once. It is a creamcoloured box trap with a shiny black ball decoy and a net canopy (Watson et al 2007).…”

Efficiency of six different octenol‐baited traps for collecting horseflies (Diptera: Tabanidae)

“…Large horsefly populations during summer months also have a great impact on the outdoor activities of many domestic animals, triggering defensive behaviours against host‐seeking female horseflies. These behaviours include tail flicking, leg stamping, head throwing and gathering into groups (Baldacchino et al ., 2014; Kline et al ., 2018). The defensive behaviours are closely associated with losses in weight gain, milk production and feeding efficiency of domestic animals.…”

“…The modified box trap collected 1.13 times more horseflies than the Nzi and 1.55 times more than the canopy trap. In similar studies at the Cedar Ridge Ranch site, in Florida (USA), the Nzi trap collected significantly more horseflies than the H‐trap and the Horse‐Pal trap (Kline et al ., 2018). The Nzi trap efficiency, appears to be related to the colour of the cloth because only use of phthalogen blue and Sunbrella Pacific blue resulted in high catches.…”

“…The Nzi trap was designed and constructed specifically for the collection of tsetse, stable flies and horseflies (Mihok, 2002). In several studies the efficiency of the Nzi trap was compared with other conventional traps (Mihok et al, 2006;Kline et al, 2018). In Canada the Nzi trap collected five times more horseflies than the canopy trap (Mihok et al, 2006).…”

Transfluthrin Spatial Repellent on US Military Camouflage Netting Reduces Tabanids in a Warm-Temperate Environment

“…1) to reduce collections of natural populations of biting tabanid flies in small protected areas. This site has been previously described in Kline et al (2018), and natural populations of tabanids were present at the time of the study. Before fielding we treated the ULCANS outdoors at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, Starke, FL, with a Bayer proprietary formulation of Bayothrine transfluthrin (Bayer Environmental Science, Research Triangle Park, NC) diluted in water and applied to the interior and exterior sides of the material at the maximum rate recommended by the manufacturer of 1 g AI/m 2 using a 3 gallon (11.4 liters) hand pressurized portable sprayer (268131; H. D. Hudson Mfg.…”