Enhanced trapping of stable flies via olfactory and visual cues

Adult stable flies are highly attracted to the so-called Alsynite cylinder trap; however this trap is expensive. Here we report the development of a cheaper and better white panel trap with options of adding visual and olfactory stimuli for enhanced stable fly trapping. The white panel trap attracted more stable flies than the Alsynite trap. This panel trap baited with certain cattle manure synthetic volatiles increased trap catches 2-3 fold compared with unbaited one. In addition, electroretinographic recordings of stable flies showed that three strong peaks of visual sensitivities occurred at 330-360 nm, 460-525 nm and 605-635 nm. A laboratory release and re-capture study showed that young flies are more responsive to white, whereas gravid female stable flies prefer blue color; in the field white panel traps caught the most stable flies relative to other colored traps.