Automated egg-collecting and pupa-separator system for medfly mass-rearing facilities

• Published in: Entomologia experimentalis et applicata Vol. 128; no. 3; pp. 364 - 368
• Main Authors: Morávek, Ivan, Kozánek, Milan, Vidlička, L'ubomír, Krumpálová, Zuzana, Eyles, David K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2008; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Breeding; Ceratitis capitata; Diptera; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects and techniques. Study of several systematic groups. Models; Invertebrates; mass-rearing automation; Mediterranean fruit fly; rearing efficacy; Techniques; Tephritidae; rearing efficacy; Egg; Tephritidae; Insecta; Device; mass-rearing automation; Sorting; Mediterranean fruit fly; Ceratitis capitata; Efficiency; Arthropoda; Nymph; Gathering; Invertebrata; Diptera; Automatic
• ISSN: 0013-8703; 1570-7458
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2008.00689.x

The new automated egg-collecting system and pupa-separator device described here substantially reduces labour during medfly [Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae)] mass production. The egg-collecting system gathers eggs dropping from the cage's oviposition net into a continuous stream of water, after which they accumulate in an egg-collecting sieve. The system provides an optimal environment for eggs, keeping them in a slow stream of well-oxygenated water. A pupa separator was designed to enable the separation of pupae from the pupation medium by sucking off the medium through a slowly moving sieving belt. The smaller particles of pupation medium are removed by a vacuum cleaner located under the circular sieving belt, and the pupae are collected in a collecting box. Quality control tests of the eggs collected and pupae separated have shown that neither system has a negative effect on the quality of the eggs or the pupae.