Droso-trap to catch Drosophila suzukii

The global economy is leading to anecological globalization. With international traffic on the rise, numerous species have found new footholds in other parts of the world. Released of their natural enemies, invaders can grow to pests in their new habitat.

In recent years, Biobest has reacted rapidly to new invasive species. Recent reports of Drosophila suzukiiin Western Europe have prompted our company to develop DROSO-TRAP.

This scouting and monitoring device has proved to be a very efficient early warning system.

Drosophila suzukii(spotted-wing drosophila, SWD) is native to South-East Asia, was described in 1931 by Matsumara in Japan, is also present in Korea, Thailand, India, China and Russia and now has spread to almost all continents of the world. Since 2009 & 2010, the official date of the detection of this new pest respectively in Italy and in France, the damage caused by this small dipterous insect is on the increase and its geographical dispersion is very fast.

Drosophila suzukii prefers to attack fruit before it ripens, unlike Drosophila melanogaster that lays eggs in overripe or damaged fruit. Therefore economic damage can be much bigger because the fly even destroys the fruit when harvested and ready for shipment.

Spotted-wing drosophila adults are light yellow or brown flies with red eyes, about 2-3 mm long. They look like regular vinegar flies but male flies have a single black spot on the end of each wing. Females have no spots, but have a distinctive saw-like egg laying device (ovipositor) which enables them to cut into thin skinned fruit and deposit eggs inside. Females can lay up to 380 eggs in a period between 7 and 16 days by depositing 2-3 eggs per laying site. After 3 generations, it makes +/- 27 millions of adults!

Monitor – Identify – Control:
A number of insecticides registered for use in different crops appear to be effective in managing SWD but because of the number of generations produced by SWD, the resistances can appear very quickly. Furthermore, some of them have potential negative impact on IPM programs, beneficial insects and/or the environment.

Biobest has conducted trials to develop a reliable and selective method of trapping Drosophila suzukii. Our DROSO-TRAP has, therefore, been specifically selected for efficient attraction of drosophila. The main attractant of this trap is DROS’ATTRACTa special selected and tested mixture that has proven to be very efficient in combination with the trap.

For more information:
Bert Synaeve
Biobest
[email protected]
www.biobest.be