Data from: Effectiveness of Male Annihilation Technique Against Zeugodacus cucurbitae is Improved at Application Densities Below Currently Recommended Level

Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) against tephritid fruit flies consists of applying a mixture of a specific male attractant with a toxicant at a high density per unit area to kill a large proportion of the males in a pest population. We tested varying application densities of MAT with cuelure (MAT-CL) against Zeugodacus cucurbitae via mark-release-recapture experiments in Hawai’i. Results indicate that at the commonly recommended application density (1600 spots/km2), MAT-CL is ineffective, killing only about 10% of the males over three days. However, decreasing the application density significantly increased effectiveness: at 10% of the recommended density, kill rates increased to an average 39%, similar to the estimated optimal effectiveness of methyl eugenol MAT against Bactrocera dorsalis. Applications aged two weeks were significantly more effective than when freshly applied, suggesting that current commercial products are long-lived and that perhaps even higher mortality is possible with less material in the field. We did not find a difference between the two MAT-CL products tested. By tracking individual males via harmonic radar, we found that movement is reduced in plots that had a higher application density, supporting the hypothesis that saturation with male lures is leading to arrestment and decreased contact with toxicant.