A horizontally polarizing liquid trap enhances the tabanid-capturing efficiency of the classic canopy trap

Abstract

Host-seeking female tabanid flies, that need mammalian blood for the development of their eggs, can be captured by the classic canopy trap with an elevated shiny black sphere as a luring visual target. The design of more efficient tabanid traps is important for stock-breeders to control tabanids, since these blood-sucking insects can cause severe problems for livestock, especially for horse- and cattle-keepers: reduced meat/milk production in cattle farms, horses cannot be ridden, decreased quality of hides due to biting scars. We show here that male and female tabanids can be caught by a novel, weather-proof liquid-filled black tray laid on the ground, because the strongly and horizontally polarized light reflected from the black liquid surface attracts water-seeking polarotactic tabanids. We performed field experiments to reveal the ideal elevation of the liquid trap and to compare the tabanid-capturing efficiency of three different traps: (1) the classic canopy trap, (2) the new polarization liquid trap, and (3) the combination of the two traps. In field tests, we showed that the combined trap captures 2.4-8.2 times more tabanids than the canopy trap alone. The reason for the larger efficiency of the combined trap is that it captures simultaneously the host-seeking female and the water-seeking male and female tabanids. We suggest supplementing the traditional canopy trap with the new liquid trap in order to enhance the tabanid-capturing efficiency.