Behavioural responses of Sodom's Apple fruit fly, Dacus longistylus to yellow sticky Trap and Attractant

Sodom's apple fruit fly is one of the most important pest of Calotropis procera in Hormozgan province, Iran. In this study the behavioural responses of adult insects to shape, height and distance of yellow sticky trap from host plant was investigated. For studying the impact of shape of trap on attraction of adult insects square, rectangular, parallelogram, circle and semicircle traps were used. The results indicated that shape of trap had no significant effect on adult attraction. For studying the height of trap, the rectangular trap was installed in 0.5, 1 and 2 m from ground surface. There was no significant difference in adult attraction between traps of 1 and 2 m height but both attracted more adults than 0.5 m. There was significant difference in adult attraction in different distances and maximum attraction was seen when trap was put near the host plants. Three attractants viz. male insect, female insect, methyl eugenol and control were used, methyl eugenol significantly attracted more insects. The study showed that the usage of methyl eugenol was attractant and putting the traps in 1 m height irrespective of distance attracted maximum fruit fly.