Data from: Effectiveness of Male Annihilation Technique Against <i>Zeugodacus cucurbitae</i> 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 <i>Zeugodacus cucurbitae</i> 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 <i>Bactrocera dorsalis</i>. 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.