ABSTRACT
The walnut husk fly, Rhagoletis completa Cresson, was discovered in southern California in 1926, and, since then, it has become a pest throughout the state’s walnut growing regions. The types of traps used to monitor populations of walnut husk flies have been derived from studies of the apple maggot fly, R. pomonella. Walnut husk fly traps usually consist of yellow sticky panels baited with 2–10 grams of ammonium carbonate, which is considered to present a feeding-type stimulus. The chapter aims to design mark-recapture experiments that would allow us to control fly sex, age, and feeding status while exploring relative attractiveness of various trap and lure combinations in the field. Two experiments were conducted over the summer. The first experiment was a ‘no choice’ test to determine trapping latency. The second experiment was a ‘choice’ test to determine the physiological state of walnut husk flies captured on traps baited with different food-based lures.
