The sweetpotato vine borer, Omphisa anastomosalis (Guenée), is a primarily Asian pest of sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas L. Damage by O. anastomosalis infestation can cause root yield losses of 30%-50%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study provides a protocol for the isolation of high-quality DNA from sweetpotato weevils (Cylas formicarius elegantulus (Summers)) collected from pheromone-baited aerial funnel traps. This study was based on our discovery that a 2-wk collection interval of sweetpotato weevils from pheromone traps did not permit isolation of intact high-quality genomic DNA. To test the effect of collection methods, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a pest fruit fly species native to Oriental Asia which has invaded and established in Hawaii and Tanzania and has been recovered in detection trapping in California. It is largely non-responsive to the male lures cuelure and methyl eugenol. Alpha-ionol + cade oil is a moderately effective male attractant, but is not as attractive as cuelure or methyl eugenol are to other fruit fly species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) is a tephritid fruit fly native to the Indo-Malayan region. Its distribution, though, has extended to include Africa, temperate Asia, and a number of Pacific islands. It became established in Japan in 1919 in the Yaeyama Islands and spread north in the Southwestern Islands of Japan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExport of Citrus spp. fruits may require risk mitigation measures if grown in areas with established tephritid fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations capable of infesting the fruits. The host status of Citrus spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSweetpotato, commercially grown in over 100 countries, is one of the ten most important staple crops in the world. Sweetpotato weevil is a major pest of sweetpotato in most areas of cultivation, the feeding of which induces production in the sweetpotato root of extremely bitter tasting and toxic sesquiterpenes which can render the sweetpotato unfit for consumption. A significant step towards improved management of this weevil species was the identification of a female-produced sex pheromone [(Z)-3-dodecenyl (E)-2-butenoate] to which males are highly attracted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiachasmimorpha kraussii (Fullaway) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was first released against Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii in March 2003. Over a three month period, eight releases, totaling 7,696 females and 3,968 males, were made in a turkeyberry, Solanum torvum Swartz (Solanales: Solanaceae) patch known to have a well established B. latifrons population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this text we present a new marking dye, readmission ink, Blak-Ray, for the purpose of insect movement studies. The dye was tested in a controlled experiment with Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in anticipation of a long distance movement study planned for the following year with the same species. 700 individuals of both sexes were marked with the dye and placed in holding containers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Chinese rose beetle, Adoretus sinicus Burmeister (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Adoretini), is a broadly polyphagous scarab beetle that is economically important and causes damage to a wide variety of host plants including agricultural crops and ornamentals in Southeast Asia, China, the Hawaiian Islands and several other Pacific Islands. The species has become established in numerous regions and is of biosecurity concern because importation of this species to other regions poses a threat to agriculture due to its generalist herbivore feeding habits. Field and laboratory research directed towards control of the species is hampered by the lack of characteristics that allow accurate determination of the sexes on live beetles in the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApplication of bait spray to crop borders is a standard approach for suppression of melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations and may also be of value for suppression of oriental fruit fly, B. dorsalis (Hendel) populations. Establishment of preferred roosting hosts as crop borders may help to improve suppression of both fruit fly species by providing sites for bait spray applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service initiated an area-wide fruit fly management program in Hawaii in 2000. The first demonstration site was established in Kamuela, Hawaii, USA. This paper documents suppression of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), and the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), in a 40 km2 area containing urban, rural and agricultural zones during a 6 year period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), males are highly attracted to the natural phenylpropanoid methyl eugenol (ME). They compulsively feed on ME and metabolize it to ring and side-chain hydroxylated compounds that have both pheromonal and allomonal functions. Side-chain metabolic activation of ME leading to (E)-coniferyl alcohol has long been recognized as a primary reason for hepatocarcinogenicity of this compound in rodents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of toxic protein bait sprays to suppress melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), populations typically involves application to vegetation bordering agricultural host areas where the adults seek shelter ("roost"). Although bait spray applications for suppression of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), populations have traditionally been applied to the host crop, rather than to crop borders, roosting by oriental fruit flies in borders of some crop species, such as papaya, Carica papaya L. (Brassicales: Caricaceae), suggests that bait spray applications to crop borders could also help in suppression of B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett, invaded the Hawaiian Island chain in 1895. In 1999, a program sponsored by the USDA-ARS to control melon fly and other tephritid pests in Hawaii over a wide area was initiated on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu. To control these flies in an areawide setting, understanding how flies move within the landscape is important.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpinosad and phloxine B are two more environmentally friendly alternative toxicants to malathion for use in bait sprays for tephritid fruit fly suppression or eradication programs. Laboratory tests were conducted to assess the relative toxicity of these two toxicants for melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett; oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel; and Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) females. Field tests also were conducted with all three species to compare these toxicants outdoors under higher light and temperature conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCade oil, a commercially available essential oil produced by destructive distillation of juniper, Juniperus oxycedrus L., twigs, is known to synergize the attractancy of alpha-ionol to male Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel). Through chemical fractionation and outdoor olfactometer-based bioassays, seven compounds in cade oil were identified that potentially could provide some level of synergism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe field efficacy of a bait containing phloxine B, uranine and Provesta 621 protein was tested against Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata; Medfly) by aerial and ground spraying in about 84 ha of coffee fields in Kauai, Hawaii, USA. Concurrently, soil and crop samples were collected from the aerially sprayed field and its unsprayed control field for residue studies. Efficacy of the sprays was assessed through trapping with both protein-baited and trimedlure-baited traps and through the infestation level of coffee cherries collected at least three-quarters ripe.
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