Avoiding Unwanted Vicinity Effects With Attract-and-Kill Tactics for Harlequin Bug, Murgantia histrionica (Hahn) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Evaluation of an Attract-and-Kill Strategy Using Long-Lasting Insecticide Nets for the Management of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in Northern Italy

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is causing extensive economic losses in tree fruit crops. Including attract-and-kill (AK) strategies targeting BMSBs in an integrated pest management framework could reduce the amounts of insecticides sprayed and benefit growers, consumers and the environment. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an area-wide AK strategy across an intensive fruticulture region of Northern Italy, comparing four paired pear sites with and without two AK stations ha-1. These stations consisted of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets containing alpha-cypermethrin, baited with the BMSB aggregation pheromone and synergist. BMSB abundance was estimated using black-standing monitoring traps, and fruit damage upon harvest was recorded across all sites. The AK stations did not decrease the BMSB abundance nor the fruit damage, while after harvest significantly lower BMSB captures were detected in the AK sites compared to the control sites. Whilst the lures' efficacy was corroborated by this research, the killing method requires improvement and refinement.

Trap Cropping Harlequin Bug: Distance of Separation Influences Female Movement and Oviposition

To evaluate perimeter trap crops for management of harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica (Hahn), we undertook greenhouse and field experiments with mustard greens as trap crop for a collard cash crop. We confirmed that harlequin bugs prefer to immigrate to and reside on mustard. Females, however, in greenhouse cage experiments, 'commuted' to collards to lay their eggs. In separate spring and fall field plantings, using replicated 12 m by 12 m collard plots in 1-ha fields, we tested mustard planted as an adjacent perimeter trap crop, or a perimeter trap crop separated by 2 unplanted rows (2.3 m), or with no trap crop. Adults accumulated on the spring mustard crop but overall numbers remained low, with all collards sustaining <1% leaves damaged. In the fall, the separation of 2.3 m reduced oviposition on collards fourfold, and feeding damage approximately 2.5-fold, compared to collards with an adjacent trap crop. Fall control plots with no border trap crop showed even lower foliar damage; likely result of preferential immigration of harlequin bugs to mustard at the field scale, resulting in fewer bugs near the control treatment plots. Thus, the spatial arrangement of the mustard trap crop, and its separation from the cash crop, influences pest abundance and damage. A separated mustard border can reduce bug movement including female commuting and egg-laying, thus better protecting the collard cash crop. Future research should address reduction in area of trap crops, deployment of semiochemicals, and possible changes in timing, to promote trap cropping that is practical for grower implementation.

Long-Lasting Insecticide-Incorporated Netting and Interception Traps at Pilot-Scale Warehouses and Commercial Facilities Prevents Infestation by Stored Product Beetles

At any point along the post-harvest supply chain, commodities are vulnerable to insect infestation. This is due to a variety of factors, but includes landscape-scale movement of stored product insects to and from food facilities and natural refugia. Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) is an innovative tactic that may be used to intercept immigrating insects. LLIN can be used to cover gaps in architecture (e.g., vents, windows, eaves, or over pallets of goods) at food facilities. Another novel approach would be to use LLIN as a kill mechanism in attract-and-kill inspired interception traps on the perimeter of facilities. Furthermore, employing these two LLIN-based approaches together would create multiple protective barriers to reduce infestation in commodities. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to (1) examine the ability of interception traps to capture stored product insects at commercial wheat and rice food facilities, (2) assess whether LLIN deployment method affected efficacy in preventing infestation by stored product insects in pilot-scale warehouses, and (3) determine the success of using LLIN alone, interception traps alone, or both together to prevent infestations. Over 2 years, interception traps deployed for 48-h periods on the perimeter of commercial food facilities captured over 3,000 insects, representing 14 stored product insect taxa. Warehouses deploying LLIN exhibited an 89–93% and 98–100% reduction in insects reaching and progeny production in commodities, even after the release of 3,600 insects of three species over 12 weeks. The combined use of LLIN and interception traps did not improve control above LLIN alone, but this may be because insects could fly unencumbered, highlighting the importance of covering gaps with LLIN on food facilities.

Evaluating Behavioral Responses of Selected Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to Spinosad

Southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) and redbanded stink bug, Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood) are two of the most important seed sucking pests affecting Louisiana soybean production and rice stink bug, Oebalus pugnax (F.) is an important late season pest in Louisiana rice. Exploration of chemicals that exhibit attraction or repellent activities toward major stink bug species would be beneficial in developing push-pull strategies. Spinosad is a commercially available natural insecticide that may have arrestant, attractant, or phagostimulant properties against stink bugs. To test this, a series of laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the tactile, olfactory, and feeding responses of these stink bugs toward two commercial spinosad products (Entrust and Tracer) and technical grade spinosad. In tactile assays, female and male redbanded stink bug were arrested by Entrust, Tracer, and technical grade spinosad, whereas only rice stink bug and southern green stink bug males were arrested by Entrust. Y-tube assays revealed no attraction to any of the products by either male or female rice stink bug, redbanded stink bug, or southern green stink bug. In paired (treated or untreated soybean seed) feeding preference experiments, southern green stink bug showed no preference for any treatment, whereas redbanded stink bug fed more on Entrust- and Tracer-treated seed. From these results, spinosad appears to have an arrestant and phagostimulant effect on redbanded stink bug in the laboratory.

Field Attraction of Striped Cucumber Beetles to a Synthetic Vittatalactone Mixture

The striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum (F.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a key pest of cucurbits in eastern North America, rapidly colonizing young plantings and vectoring bacterial wilt of cucurbits. Its aggregation pheromone has been identified and synthesized stereospecifically, but has not been field tested to date. Here, we present field bioassays of this pheromone, using mixed vittatalactone made with a novel and cost-efficient semispecific synthesis. This mixture of eight stereoisomers of (2R,3R)-vittatalactone proved highly attractive to both sexes of striped cucumber beetle, using two different trap types and a pilot attract-and-kill combination with watermelon containing the diabroticine feeding stimulant cucurbitacin-E-glycoside, under field conditions in cucurbit vegetable plantings. Availability of mixed vittatalactones could enable highly effective and specific management of striped cucumber beetle.