Improving monitoring tools for spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) were trapped in the field using colored plastic sphere traps coated with insect Tangle-trap. Red and black spheres captured significantly more D. suzukii than white spheres. Translucent deli-cup traps deployed in cherry orchards and baited with yeast, the Alpha Scents lure, or the Scentry lure captured significantly more flies than the Trécé lure and Suzukii bait; all attractants had poor selectivity for D. suzukii. No-choice evaluations of attractants conducted in field cages corroborated the cherry orchard field study, though translucent deli-cup traps provisioned with the yeast bait captured significantly more flies than those baited with the Alpha Scents lure. Red sphere traps baited with the Scentry lure captured 3–6× more flies than the deli-cup trap baited with the same lure, and 3–4× more flies than the deli-cup trap baited with yeast bait, demonstrating that a trap integrating both visual and olfactory cues is a superior tool for monitoring D. suzukii. Moreover, this simple sticky, dry trap design requires far less labor and maintenance than does a liquid-based deli-cup trap.