It is not the color of the trap, but the color as a close-range stimulus inside the trap that increases capture of Drosophila suzukii and Zaprionus indianus (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in berry crops

Abstract

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) and Zaprionus indianus (Gupta) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) are invasive pests of economic importance worldwide. D. suzukii attacks soft-skinned fruits in Asia, Europe, North and South America. Also, Z. indianus has recently been found in Asia, Europe, and America attacking orange, peach, and fig fruits while they are still on trees. Both flies have been captured in berry crops in Michoacán, Mexico. D. suzukii is known to use visual and chemical cues to search for host plants. For this reason, these cues have been used in developing traps and attractants to trap the insect in berry crops. In this study, color contrasts not yet evaluated were evaluated to investigate the possibility of enhancing attraction and capture of D. suzukii and Z. indianus in a single trap design. All traps were baited with a commercial Z-kinol attractant in a blackberry crop. In the two seasons evaluated, the same effect was observed in the capture of both fly species. The transparent traps (without color) that contained a yellow card inside as a visual stimulus was the one that captured the most individuals of both drosophilids. The results obtained will be useful for the massive monitoring and trapping of D. suzukii and Z. indianus populations in Mexico.