We examined to what extent the presence of screened or non screened dried fruits, nuts, and oil treated wheat kernels would affect the selection of oviposition sites and total oviposition by Plodia interpunctella. The main conclusions from our study were that: (1) although P. interpunctella could reproduce on most of the examined dried fruits and nuts, there was no clear-cut relationship between reproduction success and selection of oviposition sites in conducted box experiments, (2) P. interpunctella females responded positively to host odors, but they were less efficient in locating hosts when it was screened, and (3) screening of hosts had a strong negative effect on the total oviposition. Hosts which mediated the strongest orientation response of P. interpunctella females in box experiments were subsequently tested as potential attractants in flight tunnel experiments.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Pyralidae Plodia interpunctella (Indian meal moth)
Keywords: primary attractants, host selection
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