Development of a pyramidal trap for monitoring fruit-piercing stink bugs baited with Plautia crossota stali (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) aggregation pheromone

Field studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of an improved pyramidal trap for monitoring fruit-piercing stink bugs such as Plautia crossota stali Scott, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), and Glaucias subpunctatus (Walker) in two regions with different stink bug population densities. Improved traps, made from either yellow or translucent and colorless materials, were compared with the original pyramidal trap and the standard water-basin trap. All traps were baited with P. c. stali aggregation pheromone. The translucent, colorless trap captured significantly more target insects than the original design or the yellow trap, although there was no significant difference in one region. Further, the translucent improved design trap caught stink bugs comparable to the water-basin trap, and fluctuations in capture of P. c. stali were proportionally similar between the two trap types. The improved trap design eliminates the need for changing water in the standard water-basin trap, thus the improved trap may be used as an effective and simple monitoring tool over a wide geographical range.