The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), is a major pest of fruits and vegetables in the world but, through an extensive trapping program, the continental United States has remained free of established populations. These traps are baited with 2 g of trimedlure which is highly attractive to the male flies. This study contrasts the effectiveness of trimedlure and a new attractant, ceralure, which is an iodo-analog of trimedlure. Field tests in Hawaii using released sterile flies showed that the most attractive B1 isomer of ceralure caught 2 to 3 times as many male flies per mg as did the most attractive C isomer of trimedlure.
Author notes
2 This paper reports the results of research only. Mention of commercial products in this paper does not constitute a recommendation by USDA.