Reproductive Status of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) Females Influences Attraction to Fermentation-Based Baits and Ripe Fruits

Abstract

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is an invasive species that is a devastating pest of soft-skinned fruit crops. Although much effort has been directed toward developing traps and attractants to monitor for D. suzukii, current monitoring tools do not reliably predict fruit infestation. The objective of this study was to determine if D. suzukii females at different developmental stages are differentially attracted to monitoring traps with fermentation-based baits and ripe fruits. Females were collected on the surface of traps, within traps, and on ripe fruits during three experiments at field locations in North Carolina, USA, and were dissected to determine their reproductive status. In general, females collected on ripe fruits were more likely to have mature eggs present in their ovaries and had higher numbers of mature eggs than females collected on the surface of or within monitoring traps. The results of this study have implications for D. suzukii monitoring and the development of effective baits for use in integrated pest management programs.

Diurnal and Seasonal Activity Patterns of Drosophilid Species (Diptera: Drosophilidae) Present in Blackberry Agroecosystems With a Focus on Spotted-Wing Drosophila

“…Other species that are primarily attracted to rotting substrates for oviposition or food, such as D. affinis, may have been more likely to detect and get caught in monitoring traps within crop fields. In addition, it is possible that monitoring traps were not equally attractive to D. suzukii females at different reproductive stages and that older egg-laying females were more attracted to ripe fruits than to monitoring traps within crop fields (Swoboda-Bhattarai et al 2017).…”

Alimentary microbes of winter‐form Drosophila suzukii

“…More recently, D. suzukii has been reported to be attracted to yeast (Huang et al, 2017), associated with specific yeast species (Hamby et al, 2012) and to selectively feed on yeasts postmating (Mori et al, 2017). The fermentation products produced by yeasts are also known to be attractive to D. suzukii (Scheidler et al, 2015;Cha et al, 2017;Swoboda-Bhattarai et al, 2017). Fruits and nectar sources are often absent or scarce in the winter months when winter-form D. suzukii are active in overwintering habitats such as woodlands or dense hedgerows.…”

Trapping system comparisons for and factors affecting populations of Drosophila suzukii and Zaprionus indianus in winter‐grown strawberry

“…Winter morphs also appear to undergo reproductive diapause, as preoviposition times were longer than for summer morphs . In addition, female D. suzukii of varying reproductive status may be differentially attracted to baits in traps versus ripe fruit, as was observed during summer in North Carolina, or status may be related to host availability . Therefore, the pest potential of D. suzukii depends on environmental cues affecting its morphology and egg‐laying capacity, and effective management depends on detecting these differences to predict potential for crop losses.…”