A field trial of pyriproxyfen-treated targets as an alternative method for controlling tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae)

Abstract

AbstractA juvenile hormone mimic (pyriproxyfen) was used with odour-baited targets to assess its suitability for controlling tsetse flies (Glossina spp.). In August 1991, 41 odour-baited targets identical to those used with insecticide in tsetse control operations, were each treated with 4 g of pyriproxyfen and deployed near Rekomitjie Research Station, Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, in a 12.3 km2 block of woodland habitat of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood and G. pallidipes Austen. After three months, emergence rates from puparia of the two species collected in the block fell to 34% and 20% of control levels; 50 and 70%, respectively, of puparia of the two species collected were found, on dissection, to show arrested development. Changes in mean ovarian age and wing-fray category in the tsetse population during the trial were due partially to the pyriproxyfen and partially to high mortality, in the larval/pupal stages and in young adult flies, which occurs each year in the hot/dry season. Chemical analysis of cloth samples indicated that after four months 68–85% of the pyriproxyfen had been lost, a large proportion apparently dripping off the bottom of the target. If the technical problem of persistence can be solved pyriproxyfen could substitute for pesticides in target-based tsetse control operations.