Insects (2020) 11 (9 - 622)

David Maxwell Suckling, Mailee E. Stanbury, Ox Lennon, Kate M. Colhoun, Fabio Chinellato and Ashraf M. El-Sayed (2020)
Kairomone and camera trapping New Zealand flower thrips, Thrips obscuratus
Insects 11 (9 - 622)
Abstract: This project investigated how kairomone lures, camera traps, and counting software could together contribute to pest management. Images of cumulative daily catch of New Zealand Flower Thrips (NZFT) attracted to a ripe peach lactone (6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one; 6-PAP) were automatically loaded to the internet and compared with scanned bases checked weekly using in-house software and manual counting. Camera traps were able to provide thrips counts equivalent to delta traps, but daily and remotely. An 11-fold greater NZFT count occurred within 24 h in passive traps after polyethylene sachets loaded with 250 mg of 6-PAP were placed in trees. Intensive trapping, by placing 1, 2, 4, and 8 traps per tree (500 mg/trap), resulted in a maximum 32-fold increase in thrips per tree. While 6-PAP has proved to be a useful tool for monitoring NZFT numbers, our results suggest that it is not likely to be suitable for mass trapping. Future research should investigate NZFT behavior to better understand population movement on an area-wide basis. Camera traps can be a valuable tool for recording insect flight activity remotely, but the number of traps required for statistically reliable estimates may be prohibitive.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): David Maxwell Suckling, Ashraf M. El-Sayed

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.
	Thrips obscuratus	Peach/nectarine (Prunus persica)	New Zealand