Effects of Trap Color, Height, and Placement Around Trees on Capture of Mexican Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

Green and yellow were the most attractive colors to male and female Mexican fruit flies, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), followed by amber, orange, and fluorescent yellow, on colored rectangles in the laboratory and as colored solutions in McPhail traps in the field. The most attractive wavelengths were in the green and yellow spectral regions from 500–580 nm. Black, red, blue, and white were not more attractive than colorless control traps. Attractiveness of red, orange, and yellow doubled from spring to autumn in the field, whereas attractiveness of green and amber did not change. Yeast hydrolysate was significantly more attractive than any of the colors. Combinations of green or yellow with yeast hydrolysate in McPhail traps did not enhance the attractiveness of yeast hydrolysate. More flies were captured at 1 and 2 m above the ground than at 0.1 or 3 m (tree tops). More flies were captured on the north side of trees than on the south side, whereas east and west were not significantly different from each other.