Many fruit boring insect pests are difficult to control because of the short time span during which the damaging stage can be targeted before it becomes protected by the host fruit. We investigated the host location behaviour of the codling moth Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Totricidae) to its apple host ( Malus domestica Mill.) in the laboratory, with a view to the potential for extending...

1 We evaluated the efficacy and mode of action of commercially available femaleequivalent dispensers of pheromone for mating disruption of codling moth Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera Tortricidae). 2 Scentry fibres, but not Hercon flakes, were consistently as or more effective than Isomate C Plus dispensers when applied by hand at 50 dispensers per tree. 3 Individual Scentry fibres were sligh...

Knowledge of how insects are actually affected by sex pheromones deployed throughout a crop so as to disrupt mating has lacked a mechanistic framework sufficient for guiding optimization of this environmentally friendly pest-control tactic. Major hypotheses are competitive attraction, desensitization, and camouflage. Working with codling moths, Cydia pomonella, in field cages millions of times ...

Understanding the processing of odour mixtures is a focus in olfaction research. Through a neuroethological approach, we demonstrate that different odour types, sex and habitat cues are coded together in an insect herbivore. Stronger flight attraction of codling moth males, Cydia pomonella, to blends of female sex pheromone and plant odour, compared with single compounds, was corroborated by fu...

Male Oriental fruit moths, Grapholita molesta (Busck), were brießy preexposed in a wind tunnel to plumes from a rubber septum lure releasing a three-component, optimally attractive pheromone blend for this species or to plumes generated by Isomate-MRosso pheromone dispensers. The objectives were to determine how brief preexposures to lowand high-dosage pheromone dispensers affect initiation of ...

'Bing' cherries, Prunus avium L., were obtained from an organic orchard and a conventional commercial orchard. The two groups were examined separately in replicated tests infested with each fruit initially infested with a first-instar codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.). To simulate commercial postharvest holding conditions, the treatments were 0 (control), 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, and 14 d cold storage ...

Sterile insect release (SIR) is used to suppress insect pest populations in agro-ecosystems, but its success hinges on the performance of the released insects and prevailing environmental conditions. For example, low temperatures dramatically reduce SIR efficacy in cooler conditions. Here, we report on the costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for laboratory and field responses of codling m...

Oneof the fundamentalquestions inevolutionaryecology seeks tounderstandhownew biodiversity is created and structured into communities. The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae), a model for rapid ecological speciation via host plant shifting for phytophagous insects, and its parasitoid community can offer insight into answering this and other related questions. Speci...

Filbertworm, Cydia latiferreana (Walsingham) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a key insect pest associated with hazelnuts, Corylus avellana L. (Fagales: Betulaceae), in North America. This study investigated the feasibility of entomopathogenic nematodes as an alternative strategy for filbertworm control. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted between October 2007 and May 2008 in Benton C...

We compared the field competitiveness of sterile codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), males mass-reared through diapause or standard production protocols and treated with either 150 or 250 Gy of gamma radiation. Evaluations were performed during spring and summer 2003 by using field release-recapture tests. Released males were recaptured using traps baited with synthetic pheromone or with virgin...