http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/index.html http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/index_en.html No. 91, July 2018 Contents To Our Readers 1 Coordinated Research Projects 16 Other News 34 Staff 4 Developments at the Insect Pest Relevant Published Articles 39 Control Laboratory 18 Forthcoming Events 2018 5 Papers in Peer Reports 23 Reviewed Journals 41 Past Events 2017 6 Announcements 28 Other Publications 47 Technical Cooperation Field Projects 7 In Memoriam 32 To Our Readers With the objective of developing the sterile insect technique (SIT) package for mosquitoes, aerial releases by drones were successfully validated. Tests were performed with a release machine mounted on a Dji Matrice 600 pro unmanned aerial vehicle filled with 50 000 sterile Aedes aegypti males per flight. Tests were conducted in a 20-ha release site in Carnaíba do Sertão, Juazeiro, State of Bahia, Brazil. Results obtained on the sterile mosquito spatial distribution, sterile to wild ratio, and increases of egg sterility in the field site were very encouraging (Photo: WeRobotics). Insect Pest Control Newsletter, No. 91, July 2018 Implementation of the sterile insect technique (SIT) for The Joint FAO/IAEA Division, in collaboration with the mosquitoes that are vectors of diseases requires the devel- Swiss-American non-profit group WeRobotics, has devel- opment and optimization of sexing systems, mass-rearing, oped and validated an aerial release device that can be irradiation and handling, as well as release systems. Among mounted on a drone and that has the capacity to disperse these, the aerial release has been receiving special atten- 50 000 sterile male mosquitoes per flight. The testing of the tion, facilitated by the recent overall development of re- system was carried out in Brazil in March 2018 and sterile mote-piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) or drones. male Aedes aegypti were successfully released from an RPAS as part of ongoing efforts to integrate a nuclear tech- For other insects, aerial dispersal has relied on release ma- nique in the management of the vector that spreads Zika chines mainly used in fixed-wings aircrafts, or occasionally and other diseases. helicopters. This is because the number of sterile insects needed per surface area is high (in the case of fruit flies and Another major achievement during the past semester has moths) or the distribution area is very large (in the case of been the approval of the ‘Reorganization and Harmoniza- tsetse flies). Additionally, adult mosquitoes are much more tion of International Fruit Fly Standards’ by the Commis- fragile, with long legs and antenna that can break easily sion on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) of the International when handled. Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The IPPC acknowl- edged the Technical Panel on Pest Free Areas and Systems To overcome these constrains, mosquito release pilot tests Approaches for Fruit Flies (TPFF) for its work towards the have so far been conducted releasing insects by ground, preparation of the proposal. The main objective was to re- without going through the insect chilling process. Howev- organize and harmonize the existing suite of fruit fly stand- er, ground releases are limited by the areas that can be cov- ards (International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures or ered, require a large contingent of field staff, have complex ISPMs) so that they are more logical, simplifying their im- logistics, and result in less uniform dispersal patterns. This plementation to facilitate agricultural trade and prevent the makes ground releases less effective and costlier when introduction and spread of invasive fruit flies. compared with releases by air, especially for large areas. Approved reorganization of International Fruit Fly Standards by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) in 2018. Diagnostic protocols (DPs) and phytosanitary treatments (PT) provide additional linkages to enhance usability of the standards. 2 Insect Pest Control Newsletter, No. 91, July 2018 Following this recently approved reorganization, exporting ritid fruit fly species of economic importance. The specific and importing countries first use ISPM 37 (Determination trapping system to be used will depend on the objective of of host status of fruits to fruit flies (Tephritidae)) to deter- the pest control programme, economic and technical feasi- mine if the commodity is a fruit fly host or not. If not, the bility, the target species of fruit fly and the phytosanitary commodity can be exported without any additional phyto- condition of the target areas, which can be either infested, sanitary measures. If it is a host, then ISPM 26 (Establish- an FF-ALPP, or an FF-PFA. They describe the most widely ment of pest free areas for fruit flies (Tephritidae)) should used trapping systems, including materials, applications, as be used to identify if the area is a fruit fly free area (FF- well as procedures for assessment of trap layouts and trap PFA) or not. If it is a FF-PFA, no additional measure is densities based on pest risk, and data recording and analy- necessary to export the commodity. However, if the area is sis. infested, then ISPM 35 (Systems approach for pest risk management of fruit flies (Tephritidae)) has to be applied, where two or more pre- and post-harvesting measures are combined to mitigate the risk of introducing the pest to the importing country. The new complete reorganization of fruit fly standards is presented in the figure on the previous page, illustrating how the approach is now simplified to three ISPMs (26, 35 and 37). To ensure that the fruit fly ISPMs’ logical application matches production and trade practices for fruits and vege- tables, it was necessary to integrate the existing ISPM 30 (Establishment of Areas of Low Pest Prevalence for Fruit Flies) as an annex to ISPM 35. There was no example in international trade of countries using a fruit fly area of low pest prevalence (FF-ALPP) as a stand-alone measure to export. In all know cases, FF-ALPP are used as part of a systems approach. The reorganization included all ISPMs, annexes and ap- pendices (adopted from 2006 to 2016) and the TPFF re- viewed the 13 core documents of the suite of fruit fly ISPMs to ensure harmonization and consistency among them. Repetitive information in some of the ISPMs was removed, and additional links established between the Finally, collaboration is an essential part of our mandate standards, and standards and the adopted diagnostic proto- and recently the Moscamed Brazil (Juazeiro Bahia, Brazil) cols and phytosanitary treatments, to enhance usability of and the Centro Agricoltura Ambiente (Bologna, Italy) have the standards. been designated as IAEA Collaborating Centres for the pe- Finally, over the last ten years some technical changes oc- riod 2018–2022 and 2017–2021, respectively. Both centres curred, specifically within taxonomy, in particular the syn- have the mandate to conduct research and implement SIT onymization of four species of Bactrocera (B. dorsalis, B. in relation to human disease vectors. invadens, B. papaya and B. phillipinensis) within a single Brazil was one of the countries in South America most se- species B. dorsalis. That change has a direct positive im- verely affected by the mosquito transmitted Zika virus out- pact on fruit and vegetable trade worldwide, and was in- break in 2015. Therefore, Moscamed Brazil is implement- cluded. ing programmes to combat the disease-carrying Aedes The FAO/IAEA trapping guidelines, of which the first edi- mosquitoes and has become a leader in the application of tion was published in 2003, have proven to be important the SIT for the control of the Aedes mosquitoes. guidelines that have supported the development of Appen- The Centro Agricoltura Ambiente has been instrumental in dix 1 of ISPM 26 (Fruit fly trapping). In view of new tech- developing mosquito mass-rearing equipment to support nical developments in this field and the adoption of Ap- SIT pilot projects in Italy and in other European countries. pendix 1 of ISPM 26, there was a need to produce an up- Their goal for the near future is to continue optimizing dated version. This second edition of the ‘Trapping guide- mass-rearing equipment that can be used by all countries lines for area-wide fruit fly programmes’ has now been and to support pilot trials in neighbouring European coun- finalised and is freely available on the Insect Pest Control tries. website (https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/trapping- guideline_0.pdf). They provide detailed information on Rui Cardoso Pereira trapping under different pest situations for different teph- Head, Insect Pest Control Section 3 Insect Pest Control Newsletter, No. 91, July 2018 Staff Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Applications in Food and Agriculture Name Title Email Extension Location Qu LIANG Director [email protected] 21610 Vienna Insect Pest Control Subprogramme Insect Pest Control Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture P.O. Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel.: (+) 43 1 2600 26077; Fax: (+) 43 1 26007 Insect Pest Control Laboratory, FAO/IAEA Agriculture & Biotechnology Laboratories 2444 Seibersdorf, Austria Tel.: (+) 43 1 2600 28404; Fax: (+) 43 1 26007 2874 Name Title Email Extension Location Rui CARDOSO PEREIRA Section Head [email protected] 26077 Vienna Rafael ARGILES Entomologist (Livestock Pests) [email protected] 21629 Vienna Walther ENKERLIN Entomologist (Plant Pests) [email protected] 26062 Vienna Daguang LU Entomologist (Plant Pests) [email protected]