Liquid Baits with Oenococcus oeni Increase Captures of Drosophila suzukii

The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae), native to Eastern Asia, is an invasive alien species in Europe and the Americas, where it is a severe pest of horticultural crops, including soft fruits and wine grapes. The conventional approach to controlling infestations of SWD involves the use of insecticides, but the frequency of application for population management is undesirable. Consequently, alternative strategies are urgently needed. Effective and improved trapping is important as an early risk detection tool. This study aimed to improve Droskidrink® (DD), a commercially available attractant for SWD. We focused on the chemical and behavioral effects of adding the bacterium Oenococcus oeni (Garvie) to DD and used a new trap design to enhance the effects of attractive lures. We demonstrate that microbial volatile compounds produced by O. oeni are responsible for the increase in the attractiveness of the bait and could be later utilized for the development of a better trapping system. Our results showed that the attractiveness of DD was increased up to two-fold by the addition of commercially available O. oeni when combined with an innovative trap design. The new trap-bait combination increased the number of male and especially female catches at low population densities.

The Impact of Lampenflora on Cave-dwelling Arthropods in Gunungsewu Karst, Java, Indonesia

The development of wild caves into show caves is required an installation of electric lights along the cave passages for illumination and decoration purposes for tourist attraction. The presence of artificial lights can stimulate the growth of photosynthetic organisms such as lampenflora and alter the typical cave ecosystem. The study was aimed to detect the effect of lampenflora on cave-dwelling arthropods community. Four caves were sampled during the study, 2 caves are show caves with the existence of lampenflora and 2 others are wild caves without lampenflora. Arthropods sampling were conducted by hand collecting, pitfall trap, bait trap and berlese extractor. Lampenflora comprises of algae (Phycophyta), moss (Bryophyta) and fern (Pteridophyta) grow mostly around white light lamps. Richness, diversity, and evenness indices of Arthropods are higher in caves with the existence of lampenflora compared to caves without lampeflora. This study clearly shows that the presence of lampenflora can increase Arthropods diversity and suppress dominancy of common Arthropods species in caves, also increasing the relative abundance of predators. This condition will shift the ecosystem equilibrium and lead to cave ecosystem destruction. The results of this study should be a scientific consideration for show cave development and management. Lampenfloras have to be removed from all caves and preventive efforts should be taken to minimize their growth.

Kairomone Attractant for the Leafmining Fly, Liriomyza bryoniae (Diptera, Agromyzidae)

A field test carried out in an industrial greenhouse in Lithuania revealed the attractiveness of synthetic methyl salicylate (MeSa) towards an economically important leafmining tomato pest, Liriomyza bryoniae (Kaltenbach) (Diptera, Agromyzidae). The behavioural reaction of the flies depended very much on the simultaneous presence of both olfactory and visual stimuli. The attractiveness depended on the colour of a sticky trap: MeSa attracted significantly more flies (ca. 2.2 times) when placed in yellow traps than in aluminium foil colour ones, when catches in such traps were compared to a corresponding control. L. bryoniae is the first species within the Agromyzidae family attracted by MeSa. The attractant was attributed to kairomones, as the compound is known as a plant-produced volatile. MeSa can be an effective extra-tool for increasing the attractiveness of traps. It should be evaluated in future whether such trap/bait combination is effective for the mass trapping of L. bryoniae leafminers in greenhouses (closed area).

TRANS-VERBENOL, TURPENTINE, AND ETHANOL AS TRAP BAITS FOR THE BLACK TURPENTINE BEETLE, DENDROCTONUS TEREBRANS,1 AND OTHER FOREST COLEOPTERA IN NORTH FLORIDA2

Trans-verbenol, ethanol, and gum turpentine were evaluated alone and in combinations as trap baits for the black turpentine beetle (BTB), Dendroctonus terebrans (Olivier). Traps without turpentine generally caught fewer BTB, pales weevils, Hylobius pales (Herbst), pitch-eating weevils, Pachylobius picivorus (Germar); southern pine sawyers, Monochamus titillator (F.), and Carolina pine sawyers, M. carolinensis (Olivier). Trans-verbenol alone was ineffective as a trap bait, but sometimes increased catches of BTB 1.2 to 1.5 times when used in combination with turpentine or a mixture of turpentine and ethanol. The addition of ethanol to the turpentine bait sometimes doubled catches of BTB and increased captures of pales weevils 3.7 to 5.1 times. The overall effect of mixing ethanol with turpentine bait while releasing trans-verbenol from the same trap versus the use of turpentine alone was a 2.4-fold increase in the response of female BTB. Traps captured about equal numbers of male and female BTB, pales weevils, pitch-eating weevils, and southern pine sawyers, but captured 2.8 times more female than male Carolina pine sawyers.