Feeding and attraction of non-target flies to spinosad-based fruit fly bait

• Published in: Pest management science Vol. 62; no. 10; pp. 933 - 939
• Main Authors: Wang, X.G, Messing, R.H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.10.2006; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Animals; baits; beneficial insects; Biological and medical sciences; Biological control; biological control agents; Ceratitis capitata; Control; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - drug effects; Drug Combinations; Ensina sonchi; Eutreta xanthochaeta; Feeding Behavior; Female; fruit flies; fruit fly baits; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GF-120; Hawaii; Honey; Horticulture; indigenous species; Insect control; insect pests; Insecticides - toxicity; Insects; Longevity - drug effects; Macrolides - toxicity; Male; non-target impact; nontarget organisms; Pest control; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; plant pests; Protozoa. Invertebrates; spinosad; spinosad toxicity; Tephritidae - drug effects; Tephritidae - physiology; Tetreuaresta obscuriventris; toxicity; Trupanea dubautiae; Hawaii; Polynesia; Oceania; Attraction; Feeding behavior; Tephritidae; Toxicity; Insecta; Tropical zone; Non target effect; spinosad toxicity; Macrolide; fruit fly baits; non-target impact; Pest; Pest management; Bait; Arthropoda; GF-120; Biopesticide; Invertebrata; Non target organism; Diptera; Microbial insecticide
• ISSN: 1526-498X; 1526-4998
• DOI: 10.1002/ps.1259

A spinosad-based fruit fly bait, GF-120, has recently become a primary tool for area-wide suppression or eradication of pest tephritid fruit flies. The present study assessed the attraction and feeding of five non-target fly species to GF-120 in Hawaii. These non-target flies include three beneficial tephritid species [Eutreta xanthochaeta (Aldrich), Tetreuaresta obscuriventris (Loew), Ensina sonchi (L.)] introduced for weed biological control, an endemic Hawaiian tephritid [Trupanea dubautiae (Bryan)] (all Diptera: Tephritidae) and the cosmopolitan Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Diptera: Drosophilidae). All five non-target fly species were susceptible to GF-120, as was the target pest Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Feeding on, or even brief tasting of, GF-120 killed all fly species within 2 h. When individual flies were provided with a choice of GF-120 or honey solution, there was no difference in the frequency of first food encounter by E. xanthochaeta, D. melanogaster or C. capitata. The other three non-target species approached honey more often than GF-120 in their first food encounter. Feeding times on GF-120 and honey were not significantly different for D. melanogaster and C. capitata, while the other four non-target species fed longer on honey than on GF-120. There was no significant difference in feeding time on honey versus GF-120 between males and females of each species. These results suggest that area-wide treatment using GF-120 for the purpose of eradication of pest fruit flies has potential negative impacts on these and other non-target fly species in Hawaii.