[en] A survey sponsored by US/AID revealed that in 1970 direct crop losses due to Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) infestations throughout 10 774 km² (2.7 million acres) in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama approximated US$2.4 million. Potential annual losses would reach US$6.8 million were the medfly to spread throughout presently uninfested Central America. The survey team members estimated that a 6-year eradication programme involving sterile flies, malathion mixed with protein bait, or malathion alone would cost US$30.8, US$25.7 or US$21.8 million, respectively. The subsequent revision of these estimates by agricultural officials of the OIRSA member countries resulted in a 5-year programme involving both malathion and sterile medflies at a cost of US$20.5 million. The financing would be provided by contributions from the governments of the USA, the five Central American countries, Panama, Mexico and the United Kingdom that would be deposited in CABEI to cover the operational costs. This sum would be repaid to CABEI within 10 years and would constitute the nucleus of an emergency fund to combat plant and animal diseases or pests within the OIRSA region. Additional monetary and/or technical support would be requested of UNDP, IAEA, the University of California and the Interamerican Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Intensive trapping for medflies within OIRSA countries that are ostensibly free of this pest and in Belice should be a prerequisite to an active eradication programme. Supplementary information concerning medfly ecology and methods of marking and aerial release is needed. (author)

[en] Data from an island-wide trapping survey and from test releases of 28 million medfly were used in the study. The flies were reared at 23 +-2⁰C and a 14-hr photoperiod, in organdy cylindrical cages containing 50,000-60,000 pupae/cage. The adult diet was a 3:1 enzymatic yeast hydrolysate: sugar mixture with water separate. The cages were kept for 15-17 days and produced ca. 6 x 10⁶ eggs/cage. Pupae were produced on trays loaded with 1.5 kg. of specified medium, and yielded 17,000-20,000 pupae after 9-10 days. They were subsequently irradiated 24-28 hrs before emergence with 9 krad of γ-rays, and labelled. Pupae were packaged, at 21 of pupae/plastic bag. Details of final packaging, transport and release methods and rates are given. The absence of a suitable host of 2-3 months would be sufficient to break the medfly cycle. Data on larval infestation in sour and jaffa oranges, apricots and figs were obtained, the most dramatic difference in infestation between two villages being ovserved in figs. Some empty (infertile) stings in stone fruits occurred

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[en] Since 1965 the INIA has been carrying out a programme of biological control of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) by means of the sterile-insect technique (SIT). Preliminary field experiments in 1969 in the province of Murcia, Spain, showed the method to be effective when applied in small isolated areas. New field experiments in 1972 in the province of Granada showed that it was possible to protect a semi-isolated area of 100 ha by creating peripheral ''barriers'' of sterile insects. No ''sterile punctures'' were observed in the fruit of the release area. In 1973, mass-rearing techniques were improved and methods for shipment of refrigerated adults instead of pupae were developed. Results of these experiments confirm (a) that the SIT is fully effective in the control of C. capitata, (b) that shipment of insects in the adult stage is more effective than in the pupal stage, and (c) that improvement in the rearing system can reduce the cost of production of irradiated insects by 60%. (author)

[en] Under field conditions, the authors compared the responses of lab.-type (ca. 85 generations under artificial conditions) and wild-type Dacus oleae flies to host plant colour and odour, host fruit colour and shape, small rectangles of different colours and shades, and McPhail-type traps of different colours baited with different odours. Except for the lab.-type flies being relatively more attracted toward red fruit models and small red rectangles and relatively less attracted toward yellow fruit models and small yellow rectangles than the wild type, the qualitative nature of the responses of the two fly types toward the various experimental treatments was essentially the same. Quantitatively, however, consistently smaller percentages of the released lab.-type than the released wild-type flies were recaptured, suggesting that the mobility, flight pattern, or vigour of the two types of flies may be different. (author)

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[en] The procedures used for rearing, sterilizing, marking and release of Rhagoletis cerasi L. are reviewed. A small-scale control programme was started in 1973 in two pilot orchards, to be expanded in 1974, in order to investigate the feasibility of eradicating R. cerasi by SIT. The results achieved so far and the problems to be solved are discussed briefly. (author)

[en] During three consecutive years small-scale field trials were carried out in order to check the feasibility of the sterile-insect technique as a possible control method for the onion fly, Hylemya antiqua (Meigen). Results, so far analysed, suggest a considerable reduction of the initial onion fly population, the possibility to attain a satisfactory level of sterile flies in the population, a normal percentage of mated sterile females, a normal susceptibility of the sterile flies to insect fungus infection and a decreasing number of infested onion plants per hectare. (author)