Yes Harry - that's more or less what I was thinking also, a trap really shouldn't be that hard to create at all. Granted, clearwings are active, but then so are many of the other taxons that I've caught in my banana trap, which whilst food-based, still operates on the same loose idea (moths being attracted to scent enter a trap which is designed in such a way that the exit is not as attractive as flying up, their natural tendency). But, I'll defer to Mike's better knowledge of these - I've never seen one, so maybe they're untrappable! In fact I'm going to make several of these pheromone traps in order to conduct some research of my own early next year - hopefully I'll be able to post a happy result here and on UKMoths as I'm trapping for a particular taxon.
Regarding Mike's points - Mea Culpa - it's clearly not what you meant to say. In that case allow me to correct you. In the list there I'm also seeing some others - specific taxons that some people might not have seen before, would like to see and would like to have a shot at using methods other than the standard methods such as sugaring, beating, mining and one of the many traps of a light-oriented variety. For example, the list there includes Turnip, Silver Y, Goat Moth, Gypsy Moth, various clearwings, Bright-Line Brown Eye, the totally stunning Leopard Moth... and that's just their published stuff. Your post says, word for word, "a few pest tortix species" - these are not tortrix species. Furthermore I have contacted them about a particular taxon, a noctuid, not on that list... and they had that too... so the pheromones are on the way and should arrive any day... hence my comment regarding contacting your favourite supplier. Maybe I'm just extraordinarily lucky - this taxon is neither a pest nor numerous (
Jodia croceago). Given that I've tried one supplier for one taxon and been successful, I suspect there maybe others. But then maybe it's just extraordinary luck?
My interest in all this isn't just because of the pheromone angle - it's theorising about an efficient scent based trap of any form. First of all I made that banana trap (which is really just a glorified butterfly trap) - this is scent driven. I've since been in touch with several people all over the world, including several butterfly breeders in the US, and I'll be doing a much better model for myself next year. One key thing that has come through is that the landing area (ie "runway") is a vital thing - the bigger that is, the more enter... because it makes it
easy for them to get to their scent and be trapped. Interesting enough, the delta and winged traps, besides being sticky as I'd mentioned - for those unfamiliar with that, this means there's a sticky substance on there which basically kills them, like the flypaper rolls we probably all remember from our youth - they also have a large landing area. Ie they recognise this point and utilise it to their advantage. So, I wondered if someone had done something brilliant along such lines for pheromones but which would allow live capture.
As an aside, personally I suspect there is more to it than just that. Ie these traps are usually made from netting - so the scent escapes not from a specific entrance that they crawl into to get at the goodies BUT from all over the trap (as scent goes through netting). This probably explains why I have a whole bunch of the little guys sitting on the outside rather than entering - and this is what I want to prevent with a pheromone trap. I'm also currently experimenting with Kairomone traps - again a scent based trap - which are the latest thing in the US. By using Kairomones combined with pheromones, researchers have found that they can attract both males
and females. Hence, my interest in scent traps.
Upshot of all this is I guess I just love tinkering with experimental traps and new attractants!
Regards,
Johan
harry eales said:
Most people I have spoken to who have used Pheremone lures for Clearwing moths have simply stood near the place where the lure is placed, watching for the insects to appear.
If you want a trap! then it's easy enough to make one at home. A square wooden frame about 9" square and perhaps 4" deep would do. The back could be made from perforated Aluminium or Zinc held in place with drawing pins. The front is made of two pieces of overlapping perspex or crystaglass with a gap between them suitable for the insect to enter.
To use simply place the pheremone lure inside, pin on the back cover, and position it with the back of the trap facing the wind, this blows through the perforated metal sheet and exits through the gap between the overlapping perspex sheets carrying the scent with it. Hopefully the male moth you are after detects the scent plume and flies upwind and into the trap.
Harry.
