Swormlure: Development and Use in Detection and Suppression Systems for Adult Screwworm (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

The screwworm program stands as the first and most outstanding example of the control and eradication of an insect pest species throughout a significant part of its range by the release of sterilized insects. From the initial conception of the principle by Knipling in 1934 (1955), and through its successful testing on Curacao and application in the southeastern United States (Baumhover 1966), entomologists and agriculturalists alike have been awed by the magnitude and success of the program. In 1962, when a program was initiated along the 1,800- mi. (ca. 2,900-km) border between Mexico and the United States, it was hoped that a thin film (or barrier) of sterile flies between the countries would prevent the migration of wild flies from northern Mexico into the United States and protect the livestock industry of the Southwest and West from economic damage by the species. Although this has been the case in most years, entomologists have long known that a more logical location for the barrier was in the narrowest part of Mexico (Isthmus of Tehuantepec), with the eventual goal of a barrier in Panama. In 1975 a cooperative program with Mexico was begun (the agreement was signed in 1972), with the first step being the opening of a mass rearing facility for screwworms in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. With the initiation of this cooperative effort, the complexity of the program was greatly increased by both the larger land area involved (ca. five times) and by the extreme diversity of ecosystems in Mexico.