Kairomone and Camera Trapping New Zealand Flower Thrips, .

This project investigated how kairomone lures, camera traps, and counting software could together contribute to pest management. Images of cumulative daily catch of New Zealand Flower Thrips (NZFT) attracted to a ripe peach lactone (6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one; 6-PAP) were automatically loaded to the internet and compared with scanned bases checked weekly using in-house software and manual counting. Camera traps were able to provide thrips counts equivalent to delta traps, but daily and remotely.

Development of an efficient trapping system for New Zealand flower thrips, Thrips obscuratus.

Background: New Zealand flower thrips (NZFT), Thrips obscuratus (Crawford), is an economic pest of various horticultural crops in New Zealand and is recognised as a quarantine pest globally. Two chemical attractants (ethyl nicotinate and 6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one), three dispensers, three trap designs and four trap heights were investigated to determine the most effective method for monitoring NZFT. Phenology of NZFT at two locations was compared.