Development of a Bait System for Suppression of Adult Screwworms13

Abstract

Through extensive field evaluations, a bait system (hereafter termed “SWASS” for Screwworm Adult Suppression System) was developed for adult Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel). SWASS units were a 5.1-cm diam × 7.5-cm cardboard cylinder. Approximately 5 g of a mixture of Elmer’s glue (52%), granulated sugar (32%), dried blood (14%), and dichlorvos (2%) were down the center, and a dental roll, ca. 2.5 cm impregnated with 2 ml of swormlure-2, was placed in the mixture in ca. the center of the cylinder. When SWASS units were first evaluated near the screwworm production plant, they attracted and killed hundreds of released screwworm flies/h. In other field evaluations, SWASS units appeared ca. 70% as effective as a standard trap and ca. 35% as eflective as a wind oriented trap when numbers of flies attracted to each trapping system were compared over 1-wk periods. In a field test consmeared ducted on a local ranch, native screwworms were atlong tracted and killed by SWASS units and ca. 75–80% of the native flies killed with these baits were females.