Automatic Field Detection of Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) with a New Probe

Abstract

The Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a significant invasive pest of maize plantations in Europe. Integrated pest management demands an adequate monitoring system which detects the activity of insects with high accuracy in real-time. In this study, we show and test a new electronic device (ZooLog KLP), which was developed to detect WCR in the field. The ZooLog KLP consists of a trapping element that attracts insects with its color and species-specific sex pheromone. The other part is an opto-electronic sensor-ring which detects the specimens when they fall into the trap. At detection, the time of catch is recorded and sent to a web interface. In this study, we followed WCR flight patterns for six weeks in two locations, using ZooLog KLP probes. We investigated sensor precision by comparing the number of catches to the number of detections. The tool reached high accuracy (95.84%) in recording WCR. We found a peak in flight activity in August and a bimodal daily pattern. This method may be beneficial in detecting the WCR during their activity, and this new device may serve as a prototype for real-time monitoring systems and improve the management of this pest.

Automatic Detection of Moths (Lepidoptera) with a Funnel Trap Prototype

“…In another electronic trap using the same IR sensor ring, we could gain a 60-70% detection accuracy under semi-field conditions for soil arthropods with sizes of 0.5-2.5 mm [21]. We gained a 95.84% detection accuracy in agricultural use for the larger-sized western corn rootworm (4.4-6.8 mm) under field conditions [22].…”

“…Due to pheromone contamination, one probe can detect only one species. The sensors are already used in different trap types, such as soil traps and KLP traps for Diabrotica virgifera [22]. That way, by inserting sensors into different traps or places, there is a high potential for sensing different types of insects, where species specificity can be solved.…”

“…As has already been described by Tóth et al [22], the ZooLog system was designed for the online monitoring of arthropods. It works with its own data forwarding system, a central database, and a Web interface.…”

“…From the raw dataset produced by the IR sensor ring, false detections were filtered out according to the same method used by Tóth et al [22]. The IR sensor ring produces intensity data from the eight sensors surrounding the tube at the bottom of the capturing funnel.…”

“…The infrared (IR) sensor ring was further developed to detect invertebrates of different body sizes [20]. By using this IR sensor ring, we constructed automatic traps (probes) to detect small invertebrates living in the soil [21] and the adults of the Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) [22]. Finally, to detect flying insects, we used the same IR sensor ring installed in the CSALOMON ® VARL funnel traps produced by the Plant Protection Institute, Centre of Agricultural Research, ELKH, Budapest.…”