Field Trapping (Diptera: Tephritidae) with Select Eugenol Analogs That Have Been Found to Attract Other 'Non-Responsive' Fruit Fly Species.

(Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a pest fruit fly species native to Oriental Asia which has invaded and established in Hawaii and Tanzania and has been recovered in detection trapping in California. It is largely non-responsive to the male lures cuelure and methyl eugenol. Alpha-ionol + cade oil is a moderately effective male attractant, but is not as attractive as cuelure or methyl eugenol are to other fruit fly species. An improved attractant is therefore desired. With the recent success in finding other non-responsive fruit fly species attracted to isoeugenol, methyl-isoeugenol, or dihydroeugenol in Australia and other countries, we wanted to assess whether might also respond to these “eugenol analogs.” Working with wild populations in Hawaii, we assessed the relative catch of in traps baited with the eugenol analogs with catch in traps baited with alpha-ionol, alpha-ionol + cade oil, or alpha-ionol + eugenol. Catch was significantly higher in traps baited with alpha-ionol + cade oil relative to traps with any of the other baits. There was, though, some male catch in traps baited with dihydroeugenol or isoeugenol but none in traps baited with methyl-isoeugenol.