Automated egg‐collecting and pupa‐separator system for medfly mass‐rearing facilities

Abstract

The new automated egg‐collecting system and pupa‐separator device described here substantially reduces labour during medfly [Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae)] mass production. The egg‐collecting system gathers eggs dropping from the cage's oviposition net into a continuous stream of water, after which they accumulate in an egg‐collecting sieve. The system provides an optimal environment for eggs, keeping them in a slow stream of well‐oxygenated water. A pupa separator was designed to enable the separation of pupae from the pupation medium by sucking off the medium through a slowly moving sieving belt. The smaller particles of pupation medium are removed by a vacuum cleaner located under the circular sieving belt, and the pupae are collected in a collecting box. Quality control tests of the eggs collected and pupae separated have shown that neither system has a negative effect on the quality of the eggs or the pupae.