Environmental Entomology (1994) 23, 1397-1408

Adam Asquith and Michael Kido (1994)
Native Hawaiian insects attracted to the semiochemical methyl eugenol, used for male annihilation of the oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Environmental Entomology 23 (6), 1397-1408
Abstract: This study addressed the potential susceptibility of native Hawaiian insects to the semiochemical methyl eugenol used for male annihilation of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). The effects of trap type (methyl eugenol, methyl eugenol + toxin, toxin only, and control) and trap height (0, 1, 2, or 4 m above ground) were studied in native forest on the island of Kauai. A malaise trap was used to determine the relative abundance of insects in the immediate vicinity of the methyl eugenol traps. Seven species of native Hawaiian Drosophilidae, two species of Muscidae, and one species of Phoridae were found to be attracted to methyl eugenol. For four other taxa, including species of Miridae, Anobiidae, and Proctotrupidae, attraction to methyl eugenol is suggested but equivocal. For all species except Drosophila villosipedis (Drosophilidae) and Brachyserphus hawaiiensis (Proctotrupidae) both males and females were attracted to methyl eugenol. For Drosophila perissopoda, Drosophila basimacula, Scaptomyza varipicta, and Scaptomyza rostrata, ground level traps caught significantly more individuals than traps above ground, and for all drosophilids, 4-m high traps caught the fewest individuals. Among non-Drosophilidae, trap height was not a significant factor in captures for only the Anobiidae and Sarona species (Miridae). Megaselia sp. (Phoridae) was similar to Scaptomyza tantalia (Drosophilidae) in that almost all individuals were captured in ground level traps. Orthotylus sp. (Miridae) was the only species in which 4-m high traps caught the greatest number of individuals. For Lispocephala species (Muscidae) and B. hawaiiensis, 1-2-m high traps tended to catch more individuals than the ground-level or 4-m high traps. Malaise trap data suggest that methyl eugenol traps either attracted these species roughly in proportion to their local abundance (D. villosipedis, D. basimacula) or they captured only a portion of the local pool of individuals (S. varipicta, D. perissopoda, D. kokeensis, Lispocephala spp.). Because of the low level of attraction displayed by the native insects and the potential to mitigate the impact by placement of baits in the forest canopy, it is suggested that an environmentally acceptable application of methyl eugenol can be devised for use in the Hawaiian Islands.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bactrocera dorsalis		U.S.A. (Hawaii)