Western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a quarantine pest of cherries (Prunus spp.) in western North America that can be detected using sticky yellow ...rectangle traps. Recently, a related invasive fly from Europe and Asia, the European cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae), was detected in eastern North America, prompting surveys for it in the West. Sticky crossed-panel yellow Rebell and cylindrical-type yellow PALz traps were developed for R. cerasi and are effective for monitoring it, raising the question of efficacies of three-dimensional versus rectangle traps against R. indifferens. Here, efficacies of the Yellow Sticky Strip (YSS) rectangle, thus far the best trap for R. indifferens, and Rebell and PALz traps with ammonium lures were determined for R. indifferens in Washington State. The Rebell and YSS traps caught similar numbers of R. indifferens and more than the PALz trap. Ammonium carbonate (AC) released more ammonia than ammonium acetate and attracted more R. indifferens to all three traps. The large surface area or shape of the Rebell trap was responsible for its high efficacy relative to the YSS. Results suggest that YSS and Rebell traps with AC would be equally useful for detecting R. indifferens, and that a crossed-sheet YSS trap could be even more efficacious than the YSS due to greater surface area. For R. cerasi detection surveys in Washington, the PALz trap would be preferred over the Rebell trap if they are equally efficacious against R. cerasi, as fewer R. indifferens would clutter traps.
To cope with temporal and spatial heterogeneity of habitats, herbivorous insects in the temperate zone usually enter diapause that facilitates synchronization of their life cycle with specific stages ...of host plants, such as fruit ripening. In the present study, we address those factors regulating dormancy responses as part of a ‘longer strategy’ to persist and thrive in temperate environments, focusing on Rhagoletis cerasi, a univoltine, oligophagous species, which overwinters as pupae and emerges when host fruits are available for oviposition at local scale. To ensure population survival and reproduction at habitats with ecological heterogeneity, R. cerasi has evolved a sophisticated diapause strategy based on a combination of local adaptation and diversified bet‐hedging strategies. Diapause duration is determined both by (i) the adaptive response to local host fruit phenology patterns (annual diapause) and (ii) the plastic responses to unpredictable inter‐annual (temporal) climatic variability that drives a proportion of the populations to extend dormancy by entering a second, successive, facultative cycle of prolonged diapause as part of a bet‐hedging strategy. Besides the dormant periods, post‐diapause development (which varies among populations) exerts ‘fine tune’ adjustments that assure synchronization and may correct possible errors. Adults emerging from pupae with prolonged diapause are larger in body size compared with counterparts emerging during the first year of diapause. However, female fecundity rates are reduced, followed by an extended post‐oviposition period, whereas adult longevity remains unaffected. Overall, it appears that R. cerasi populations are adapted to ecological conditions of local habitats and respond plastically to unpredictable environmental (climatic) conditions.
To ensure population survival and reproduction at habitats with ecological heterogeneity, Rhagoletis cerasi has evolved a sophisticated diapause strategy based on a combination of local adaptation and diversified bet‐hedging strategies.
Annual diapause is determined by the adaptive response to local host fruit phenology patterns, whereas prolonged dormancy is a facultative, plastic response to unpredictable inter‐annual (temporal) climatic variability.
Post‐diapause development (which is affected by population) exerts ‘fine tune’ adjustments that assure synchronization and may correct possible errors.
Sticky red spheres can be used to capture western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), but red spheres have not been definitively shown to be more attractive than ...yellow traps. The objective of this study was to compare fly captures on ammonia-baited red spheres and yellow spheres and panels so that sensitive detection traps for fly management can be identified. Nontarget insects could interfere with fly captures, so weights of nontarget insects on traps were also determined. Yellow spheres and panels generally caught more flies than red spheres. More males than females were caught on nearly all red and yellow traps. Saffron Thread, Marigold, Sunny Summer, and Yam Yellow spheres and panels were bright yellow and generally caught more flies, especially females, than Cherry Cobbler Red or Tartar Red spheres. Twenty Carat Yellow and Glorious Gold spheres and panels were less bright and caught fewer flies than bright yellow traps and similar numbers of flies as Tartar Red spheres, respectively. Dry weights of nontarget insects on at least one yellow trap type were greater than on red spheres in only 4 of 10 tests. Results show that bright yellow spheres and panels capture more R. indifferens than red spheres and do not consistently capture greater amounts of nontarget insects than red spheres, suggesting that they should be used instead of red spheres for detecting this fly.
We determined the distribution of Rhagoletis fausta (Osten Sacken 1877) and Rhagoletis indifferens Curren 1932 (Diptera: Tephritidae) in California outside the state interior quarantine area. Our ...data confirmed the historical records of R. fausta in Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Tehama, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties and we trapped R. fausta for the first time in Butte, Calavaras, Glenn, Inyo, Lassen, Madera, and Yuba counties. We confirmed the historical records of R. indifferens in Amador, El Dorado, Fresno, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, and Sierra counties and we trapped R. indifferens for the first time in Butte, Calaveras, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. No R. fausta were trapped in Lake, Los Angeles, or San Bernardino counties and no R. indifferens were trapped in Alpine, Glenn, Inyo, Lake, Mono, or Tehama counties. The lower altitude at which we trapped both flies increased significantly southward from the northern end of the flies' range in California. The large, host free distances between the populations of R. fausta and R. indifferens and the major commercial sweet cherry production areas in California and the asynchrony between the time when commercial sweet cherry fruit are available for attack and the presence of adults of both fly species effectively prevent the adult flies from naturally dispersing into the major commercial sweet cherry production areas of the state and establishing breeding populations.
European cherry fruit fly (Rhagoletis cerasi) is the key pest of sweet and sour cherry throughout Europe. Pest management is usually based on pesticide application. The key of successful management ...is knowing the proper time of pesticide application, based on the phenological model. To develop a phenological model, a local population of the pest from the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina was studied. First adult appearance and population densities were monitored by yellow sticky traps. Soil and air temperatures were compared at two thermal thresholds, 5 °C and 7 °C. Air temperature was applied in the model since it is more suitable for farmers and is related to soil temperature. Both thermal thresholds can be used. The first adult flies were captured after 435 degree-days (dd) and the first cumulative 5% of the catch after 605 dd. These two times should be considered for time of application of pesticides. Regarding time for first egg hatch, the first larva burrowed into fruits at 730 dd. Cultivars that can be harvested beginning on the 730 dd calculate from 1 March are considered to have low risk of cherry fruit fly damage.
Brown sugar and hot water methods have been developed to detect larvae of tephritid fruit flies post-harvest in fruit in order to maintain quarantine security. It would be useful to determine if ...modifications of these methods can yield better results and if less expensive alternatives exist. This study reports detection rates of Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae) larvae separated from crushed sweet cherries (Prunus avium L. L.) by brown sugar flotation versus hot water and sodium chloride (salt) flotation methods. Cherries were crushed and shredded by a standard cherry crusher and submerged either in brown sugar solution, hot water, or salt solution. In sugar and salt solutions, extracted larvae floated, whereas in hot water they sank; and in all 3 visual inspections for larvae were made. The brown sugar flotation method detected more total larvae than the hot water method when using a clear dish or black pan after cherries were shredded through a 2-mm gap in a cherry crusher, resulting in 95, 85, and 85% detections, respectively. Brown sugar and salt flotation methods resulted in similar detection rates of 85–99% after cherries were shredded through either a 2- or 5-mm gap, even though the 2-mm gap resulted in greater shredding. In brown sugar, hot water, and salt solutions, 26–88% of first instars (when there were at least 8 individuals) were detected versus 77–100% of second and third instars. Results demonstrate that salt and brown sugar solutions are equally efficacious for detecting larvae of R. indifferens separated from crushed cherries. Salt solution is advantageous over brown sugar solution because it is less expensive. Should salt solution be used for detecting larval spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii Matsumura) in cherries, current results show that it would not compromise detection of R. indifferens.
Attraction of tephritid fruit flies to light and its role in fly biology and management have received little attention. Here, the objective was to show that western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis ...indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), is attracted to white light in the presence and absence of ammonia, an olfactory cue used with traps. Laboratory tests were conducted inside a 0.23 m3 cage with a halogen or light-emitting diode (LED) bulb hung ~2 cm above a trap with or without an ammonium carbonate lure; flies were released in the cage opposite from the light. Fly captures on yellow or clear traps with white light from both bulb types were greater than on controls, and greater at higher than lower light intensities whether ammonia was present or not. Adding heat without additional light near traps did not increase captures, indicating light rather than heat from bulbs attracted flies. In the field, light from LED and halogen bulbs did not enhance fly captures on ammonia-baited yellow traps, but light from halogen bulbs did enhance captures when there was no ammonia, although captures were lower than when ammonia was added. Results show that bright white light is attractive to R. indifferens and suggest orientation towards it may induce behaviors that positively affect fly fitness, such as mating and foraging. However, stronger light-associated stimuli than those used here may be needed to enhance fly captures on ammonia-baited traps under field conditions.
PESTonFARM is an agent‐based pattern‐oriented model with elements of cellular automata, developed to simulate insect behaviour within seasonally changing mosaic of farming landscapes, under the ...challenge of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) actions. The model is based on a software construct (‘virtual insect’), acting according to a pre‐defined set of behavioural rules. Each ‘virtual insect’ acts independently, developing its individually unique behavioural sequence and life history. The local on‐farm conditions and the planned IPM interventions can be represented through user‐defined spatial and temporal parameters. Incompatibility among IPM treatments, for example, pesticide vs. biological control, also could be taken into account. Unit costs of IPM interventions and crop values can be specified to obtain cost/benefit assessments for each IPM scenario. The model emulates the behaviour of a pest population during a virtual IPM experiment, and each run generates stochastically equivalent but unique sets of results, which functionally correspond to a replication of an on‐farm experiment. By taking into account the local farm structures and their spatiotemporal variations the model alludes to the concept of ‘precision agriculture’. Once customized to the local conditions and validated, the model can support site‐specific forecasting, decision‐making and training, serving as a component of the ‘precision IPM’ toolbox. To demonstrate the concept, an example of the model application in management of the cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cherasi, is briefly presented and discussed.
In the view of sustainable management of Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera, Tephritidae), a key pest of cherry orchards in Europe, we tested the efficacy of five blends containing male produced ...volatiles that were used as lures on yellow sticky traps, during a two year field study. Results show a superior efficacy of one of the blends (RC1 = 2-hexanone: 3-heptanone: nonanal), which captured three times more individuals than control in both years. Good results were also obtained by RC2 (beta-phellandrene: geranyl acetate: (+)-limonene) with an average number of catches which was half that of RC1 in both years. Our findings showed that one of the tested blends, which possibly represents the male sexual pheromone, has a promising potential for practical applications of synthetic lures in monitoring, mass-trapping or attract and kill strategies.
The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a serious introduced quarantine pest in the apple (Malus spp.)-growing regions of central Washington and Oregon. In August ...2011, seven fly larvae of unknown origin were discovered infesting fruit of an exotic Chinese crabapple, Malus spectabilis (Aiton) Borkhausen, in Kennewick, Benton County, WA. If confirmed, Chinese crabapple would have represented a new host for R. pomonella in Washington and triggered quarantine measures in a surrounding three-county region of the state. Here, we establish, based on five microsatellite loci, the identity of the crabapple-infesting larvae as the western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran, representing a new host record for the fly. Morphological analysis of six flies reared to adulthood confirmed the genetic identification. The results demonstrate the utility of integrating rapid genetic identification methods with field surveys of economic pests, which decreased detection times by months, and avoided enacting costly quarantine measures that saved local and federal bodies >US$0.5 million in monitoring, inspection, and control costs. We discuss current ongoing efforts to develop rapid, accurate, and inexpensive on site DNA-based detection tools for R. pomonella that would have general applicability for the control of pest insects.
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