Response of Female Mediterranean Fruit Flies1 to Male Lures in the Relative Absence of Males

When sexually mature males were absent or scarce, virgin, sexually mature females and month-old or older fertile female Ceratitis capitata (Wiedmann) responded to male lures-trimedlure, medlure, and angelica seed oil-in daylight at 21˚C and above. However, as soon as the sterile males in a mixed population introduced into field populations had reached sexual maturity, the virgin females stopped their response to the lures. This behavior of females can be useful in delimiting new outbreaks in measuring progress in some types of eradication programs and in shortening the time needed for eradication by the method of male annihilation.