Cooperative Agreement AP24PPQST00C044

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) awarded a $196,570 Cooperative Agreement under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care Federal Grant Program (CFDA 10.025) to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The purpose of this award is to enhance current mitigation strategies for invasive fruit flies through the development of a control device that will kill mating females. The project will field test an auto-dissemination device that infects male fruit flies with a biopesticide, which they then transmit to females during mating. The expected outcomes are a working prototype of this device containing Beauveria bassiana spores and a final report. This project is a continuation of prior work and involves collaboration between the University of Hawaii and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry (FDACS DPI) to refine the trap design and evaluate its efficacy against three fruit fly species. The results will provide a new tool for controlling the threat of invasive fruit flies to USDA, state agencies, and agricultural industries.