Developing heat treatment methods to control insect pests in harvested commodities has traditionally relied on empirical trial-and-error approaches. There is a need for an effective means to systematically develop and assess heat treatments to save time and expense. In this study, we developed a cumulated lethal time model based on the efficacy of different hot water treatments for killing codl...

Recent large-cage studies with codling moth Cydia pomonella (L.) reveal that the removal of moths from an apple orchard using pheromone-releasing traps is more effective at reducing capture in a central monitoring trap than is a mating disruption protocol without kill/capture. The present study uses open orchard 0.2-ha plots comparing a high-density trapping scenario with mating disruption to c...

Sexual behavior of male moths after prolonged exposure to the 1-ng pheromone/m(3) air previously measured in orchards treated with pheromone for mating disruption was examined in a flight tunnel. The exposure of Grapholita molesta (Busck) to 1-ng (Z)-8-dodecen-1-yl acetate (Z8-12:OAc)/m(3) air for 15 min had no effect on their ability to fly upwind to a conspecific, virgin calling female. Afte...

Biological control requires specific tools for the accurate detection and identification of natural enemies in order to estimate variations in their abundance and their impact according to changes in environmental conditions or agricultural practices. Here, we developed two molecular methods of detection based on PCR-RFLP with universal primers and on PCR with specific primers to identify commo...

Rhagoletis pomonella is a model for sympatric speciation (divergence without geographic isolation) by means of host-plant shifts. Many Rhagoletis species are known to use fruit odor as a key olfactory cue to distinguish among their respective host plants. Because Rhagoletis rendezvous on or near the unabscised fruit of their hosts to mate, behavioral preferences for fruit odor translate directl...

The rainfastness of a microencapsulated sex pheromone formulation for codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), was evaluated in a series of laboratory experiments with detached apple, pear, and walnut leaves. Increasing the intensity and duration of simulated rainfall significantly increased the removal of microcapsules from both the top and bottom of apple leaves. The removal of microcapsules was s...

The influence of trap placement on catches of codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., was examined in a series of studies conducted in orchards treated with Isomate-C Plus sex pheromone dispensers. Mark-recapture tests with sterilized moths released along the interface of pairs of treated and untreated apple and pear plots found that significantly more male but not female moths were recaptured on int...

Apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) is a major pest causing considerable economic losses of fruits in North America. During the development of international trade, apple maggot fly has become a threat to Chinese agriculture. In this study, CLIMEX and ArcGIS were used to predict the potential geographical distribution of apple maggot fly in China. The parameters used in CLIMEX for app...