Insect pest control programmes, which integrate the release of sterile insects, can be efficient only if the released insects have an optimal biological quality. Frequent monitoring of the quality of reared insects after being released in the field is an important but often neglected component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes that integrate the sterile insect technique (SIT). Parameters of sterile insects, which should be monitored regularly, are sexual competitiveness of the released insects, and related components, e.g. survival, mobility, dispersal characteristics, and spatial occupation of the habitat. A well-balanced monitoring programme will, at any given time, provide essential feedback on the progress being made. This information is prerequisite to efficient implementation of the release and cost-efficient use of sterile insects. The type of monitoring to be done will be determined largely by the particular biology of the target insect species. The most important parameter in relation to the release of sterile insects is the rate of sterility induced in the wild insect pest population; it will provide the best evidence that any observed changes, e.g. in the density of the target insect, are caused by the release of sterile insects.

Monitoring Sterile and Wild Insects in Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management Programmes

After being acclimatized to feeding on fruit flies, the Asian house gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus Dumeril & Bibron (Gekkonidae:Squamata), consumed fewer methyl eugenol (ME) fed male fruit flies, Bactrocera papayae Drew & Hancock (Tephritidae: Diptera) than when offered ME-deprived males. After one-day exposure to only ME-fed males, the geckos avoided feeding on female flies when in the presence of ME-fed males. When mechanically disturbed, the ME-fed males spontaneously ejaculated a rectal secretion which contains phenyl propanoids that deter the predator.



The ME-fed males also competed significantly better than normal (ME-deprived) males for virgin females. Male B. papayae converts ME to three other phenyl propanoids which act in concert as a sex pheromone to attract females during courtship and as an allomone to the gecko.

Ecological significance of male attractant in the defence and mating strategies of the fruit fly, Bactrocera papayae

Predation is probably the most important male mortality factor in insect species with courtship displays that render males performing them conspicuous targets of predators. Sexually active Mediterranean fruit fly males, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.), aggregate in leks, where they participate in agonistic encounters and engage in visual, acoustic and pheromone-calling displays to attract receptive females. The objective of this study was to assess: a) whether sexually displaying C. capitata males in leks inside host and non-host foliage are subject to predation by the most prominent predators yellow-jacket wasps, Vespula germanica (F.), and if so, b) whether olfactory, visual or auditive stimuli are used by foraging wasps in locating male C. capitata prey. Studies were carried out in a citrus orchard and surroundings on the island of Chios, Greece. Observations were conducted using perforated containers hung within mulberry, fig or citrus foliage. Living C. capitata flies of different sex and either mature or immature were placed inside. Our results show that the yellowjacket wasps have learned to associate the presence of sexually active medfly males aggregated in leks with their prey's pheromone (kairomone). Foraging wasps, flying through the crowns of host trees, responded to the odour source of C. capitata male pheromone by approaching from downwind. Even inside dense citrus tree foliage, wasps keyed in on aggregations of pheromone-calling males using olfactory stimuli. Stimuli of visual and acoustic male signalling were only used at close range, after having followed the pheromone plume close to its source. Visual cues played a greater role in directing wasp foraging under more open and exposed host foliage conditions. Odour-based foraging of wasps inside host foliage in the mid-morning hours, when medfly male lekking activities peak, shifted gradually to a more visual-based host fruit patrolling in the afternoons to capture ovipositing and feeding medfly females. On ripe fruit, particularly fig, V. germanica visual prey hunting also included the capture of feeding medfly males, other feeding Diptera, as well as medfly larvae extracted from wasp-made perforations in the fruit.

Odour-mediated foraging by yellowjacket wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): predation on leks of pheromone-calling Mediterranean fruit fly males (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Males of the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, are strongly attracted to and compulsively feed on a fragrant lei flower, Fagraea berteriana. A series of phenylpropanoid components, trans-3,4-dimethoxycinnamyl alcohol, its acetate, and trans-3,4-dimethoxycinnamaldehyde were characterized as male attractants. The alcohol stimulated the same level of feeding activity as methyl eugenol. Males that fed on flowers selectively converted the attractant components into trans-coniferyl alcohol and stored it in rectal glands. Males scented with the phenylpropanoids were more successful in mating than unfed males, indicating the advantage of acquiring the fragrance in mating success.

Acquisition of female-attracting fragrance by males of Oriental fruit fly from a Hawaiian lei flower, Fagraea berteriana

Males of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) are attracted strongly to and feed compulsively on methyl eugenol (1,2-dimethoxy- 4 -(2-propenyl)benzene), a highly potent male attractant. Pharmacophagy of methyl eugenol results in the production of phenylpropanoids 2-allyl-4,5-dimethoxyphenol and (E)-coniferyl alcohol that are sequestered and stored in the rectal gland prior to release as sex pheromonal components during mating at dusk. While these pheromonal components have also been detected in the hemolymph and crop of methyl eugenol-fed males, there is currently little information on the transport of these compounds from the crop to rectal gland in male B. dorsalis. Therefore, using physiological techniques such as parabiosis, rectal gland transplantation and hemolymph transfusion coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses, we were able to ascertain and confirm the role of the hemolymph in the transport of these sex pheromonal components from the crop to the rectal gland. Further, the temporal profile of these methyl eugenol-derived bioactive compounds in the hemolymph also shows an increase with time post-methyl eugenol-feeding, i.e., 2-allyl-4,5-dimethoxyphenol attaining maximum amounts 15 min after ME consumption and decreasing thereafter, while for (E)-coniferyl alcohol—the increase and decrease are more gradual. These results further demonstrate the ability of insect hemolymph to transport many diverse forms of bioactive molecules including attractant-derived sex pheromonal components.

Transport of methyl eugenol-derived sex pheromonal components in the male fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis

Ecohormones for the management of fruit fly pests: understanding plant-fruit fly-predator interrelationships

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Ecohormones for the management of fruit fly pests: understanding plant-fruit fly-predator interrelationships