Development of the Sterile-Insect Technique on the Island of Lanai, Hawaii, for Suppression of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly

Abstract

Sterile Mediterranean fruit flies were released on the island of Lanai in a pilot development program to demonstrate the ability of the laboratory strain to suppress the wild population. Sterile flies were released as adults or pupae from the air or from sites on the ground. Utilization of different release methods provided flexibility in scheduling releases to overcome problems of wild fly distribution, terrain and weather. The sterile flies suppressed the wild population 99% below the pre-treatment level for 6 months, as evidenced by reductions of larval infestations in guava. The sterile-insect release method was effective in spite of entry of gravid females from the upwind island of Maui, and was shown to be well-suited for eradication of localized populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly in the Hawaiian Islands.