Ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) trap the West Indian sweet potato weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Publication Type:Journal Article
:2012
Authors:M. Katsuki, Omae, Y., Okada, K., Kamura, T., Matsuyama, T., Haraguchi, D., Kohama, T., Miyatake, T.
Journal:Applied Entomology and Zoology
Volume:47
Pagination:285-290
Date Published:Aug
:0003-6862
:Euscepes postfasciatus
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The West Indian sweet potato weevil Euscepes postfasciatus (Fairmaire) is a troublesome pest insect of sweet potato that originally came from the Caribbean, but is now expanding its distribution into the Pacific Islands. Although sterile insect techniques have been used against this pest in a demonstration experiment on Kume Island (Ohno et al. (2006) Kontyu to Shizen 41:25-30), effective methods of monitoring E. postfasciatus are scarce. It is necessary to detect the weevils at an early stage of invasion in uninvaded areas, and an attractant trap can be used to achieve this. Thus, we developed an ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode trap, invented a method for diffusing the light to attract more insects, and investigated the attractiveness of the light trap to E. postfasciatus under laboratory conditions. Our results indicate that diffused UV light has a higher potential to attract E. postfasciatus than direct UV light. Furthermore, sweet potato is an effective bait to use to capture the weevils attracted by UV light. Thus, E. postfasciatus can be trapped using diffused UV light and sweet potato bait.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith