Recent Developments in Chemical Attractants for Tephritid Fruit Flies

Some problems presented by Tephritid fruit flies and the potential damage which these fruit flies could do to our fruit and vegetable crops on the mainland of the USA are briefly mentioned. The role of attractants in population monitoring and control is also briefly discussed. Two potential Mediterranean fruit fly attractants are presented: (+) - α-copaene, from angelica seed oil studied both by Fornasiero and coworkers and by Jacobson and coworkers, and 2-methylnaphthalene, from our kerosene studies. Orange oil is presented as a possible commercial source of (+)- α-copaene. Cost - effective studies must be made before these attractants can be established as being economical and practical. At the present time, trimedlure is still the only lure used for population monitoring of Medflies, and protein hydrolysates are used for baits in control methods.