Evaluation of the Efficacy of Sex Pheromones and Food Attractants Used to Monitor and Control Synanthedon Myopaeformis (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

Abstract

Synanthedon myopaeformis (Borkhausen, 1789) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) is a prominent pest of commercial apple orchards in Europe. the sex pheromones of S. myopaeformis and food attractants based on apple juice, beer and red wine were evaluated as tools for monitoring and control the populations of S. myopaeformis in apple orchards in the Czech Republic. For monitoring S. myopaeformis flight activity, trap designs were also evaluated, and the results indicated that wing traps were more suitable than delta traps because of their high efficacy even at low population densities of S. myopaeformis. the flight activity patterns of S. myopaeformis showed high intrapopulation variability and variability between years. the use of pheromones as a mating disruption technique led to a decrease of tree injury in comparison to untreated controls during the three years of the experiment. the reduction of the number of S. myopaeformis larvae per tree on a 14-ha plot treated subjected to the mating disruption technique reached 56 % in the third year of the experiment. In the three-year experiment using food attractants for the mass trapping of S. myopaeformis, catches of S. myopaeformis in traps using a combination of beer and apple juice (50:50) at a density of 4 traps/ha on a 4-ha plot increased more than 4-fold.

Comparison of Mating Disruption and Insecticide Application for Control of Peachtree Borer and Lesser Peachtree Borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) in Peach

“…Behavioral manipulation of pest insects using sex pheromones is an environmentally benign tactic that has received increasing attention in pest control, and can be readily aligned with other management strategies [ 6 ]. Pheromone-based mating disruption has been used to disrupt the male mate-finding behavior of numerous Lepidopteran species [ 7 ], including several important sesiid pests [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. The compound, (Z,Z)-3,13-octadecadien-1-ol acetate (ODDA), is the main component of the female sex pheromone of S. exitiosa , while (E,Z)-3,13 ODDA, in its pure form, is the female sex pheromone of S. pictipes [ 13 ].…”