Performance of Various Trap Types for Monitoring Populations of Cherry Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Species

Abstract

The eastern cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cingulata (Loew), and black cherry fruit fly, R. fausta (Osten Sacken), are the most important insect pests of cherries Prunus spp. in the eastern and midwestern United States. In 1998, we studied the responses of cherry fruit fly species using the recommended V-shaped Pherocon AM board. Significantly more R. cingulata flies were caught on boards with aqueous solutions of ammonium baits compared with boards that had solid ammonium baits mixed into the Tangle-Trap. Captures of R. fausta flies were low in 1998 and the weekly trapping data never exceeded a total of five adults. In 1999, several commercial traps were evaluated including the unbaited, three-dimensional Rebell trap and different types of ammonium baited spheres and boards including a 9-cm-diameter red sphere, a modified version of the Ladd trap (L & S trap), and the Pherocon AM yellow board in the vertical and V-shaped orientations. There were significantly more R. fausta flies caught on unbaited Rebell traps compared with any other commercial traps studied. Red sphere treatments (regardless of baiting system) consistently captured significantly fewer R. fausta flies than any other treatment evaluated. For R. cingulata, total captures on unbaited Rebell traps were not significantly different from other commercial traps including the 9-cm- diameter red spheres baited with ammonium acetate mixed into the Tangle-Trap ,L&S traps, and the baited Pherocon AM yellow boards deployed in a vertical orientation. The study demonstrated that the unbaited Rebell trap was the most effective and selective device evaluated for monitoring R. fausta and R. cingulata flies. In addition, red sphere (9-cm-diameter) traps were found ineffective for use in R. fausta monitoring programs.