Capture of Mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in dry traps baited with a food-based attractant and Jackson traps baited with trimedlure during sterile male release in Guatemala.
Captures of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), in Jackson traps baited with trimedlure were compared with captures in cylindrical open-bottom dry traps baited with a food-based synthetic attractant (ammonium acetate, putrescine, and trimethylamine). Tests were conducted in Guatemala during a sterile male release program in an area where wild flies were present in low numbers. More wild and sterile females were captured in food-based traps, and more wild and sterile males were captured in trimedlure traps. The food-based traps captured almost twice as many total (male plus female) wild flies as the trimedlure traps, but the difference was not significant. Females made up approximately 60% of the wild flies caught in the food-based attractant traps; the trimedlure traps caught no females. The ratio of capture of males in trimedlure traps to food-based traps was 6.5:1 for sterile and 1.7:1 for wild flies. Because fewer sterile males are captured in the food-based traps, there is a reduction in the labor-intensive process of examining flies for sterility. The results indicate that traps baited with food-based attractants could be used in place of the Jackson/trimedlure traps for C. capitata sterile release programs because they can monitor distributions of sterile releases and detect wild fly populations effectively; both critical components of fruit fly eradication programs by using the sterile insect technique.