Attraction of Wild and Laboratory-Strain Mexican Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Two Synthetic Lures in a Wind Tunnel

Abstract

Attraction of laboratory-strain Mexican fruit flies, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), and wild-type flies to two synthetic lures was evaluated in a wind-tunnel. The lures were BioLure® (ammonium acetate and putrescine) and AMPu (ammonium carbonate, methylamine HCl, and putrescine). In one experiment, wild-type flies from the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, were evaluated against laboratory-strain flies that originated in Nuevo Leon. Yellow panels containing AMPu attracted >2.5 times more females and >3.5 times more males of both fly strains than panels containing BioLure®. In another experiment, wild-type flies from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, were evaluated against the Nuevo Leon laboratory strain. Results of this experiment were similar to the first except the differences in attractiveness between AMPu and BioLure® to flies of both strains were less pronounced. The difference in relative attractiveness of AMPu and BioLure® in the two experiments was related to the time of year when the experiments were conducted rather than to inherent differences between the fly strains. In both experiments, BioLure® was about two times more attractive to females than to males whereas AMPu was only slightly more attractive to females. Both lures were more attractive to laboratory-strain flies than to wild-type flies from either region of Mexico.