I need to recruit a wide range of non-biologists to deploy traps for me so that I can obtain living tabanids (horse flies and deer flies especially) for my research.
I would say Nzi traps - they are cheap, easy to transport and deploy, and catch a broad range of tabanidae and biting muscids. However, I can't guarantee they would survive well at windy sites. The website http://www.nzitrap.com/ (not a commercial site) gives detailed instructions on building your own and provides efficacy data.
there are also the "black ball traps" in dutch LOER traps. If you google "dazenval" you will see a large variety. My colleagues ensure me that he best method is to abandon your car near a creek and leave the windows open for a while.
McPhail is a good alternative. This easy to use, multifunctional trap may be either hung or set on a flat surface. It may be used with a variety of lures and has the ability for various lure placement.:
http://www.iscatech.com/ecommerce/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4
However, these traps are effective if you use a good attractant known for Tabanid, the bait is placed on top and the flies enter through the bottom.
Nzi trap was developed in Kenya by Mihok however, the best , suitable and economical trap for collection of live tabanids is Tetra trap.
What are you collecting the flies for? If you are doing surveillance or diversity studies then lures may bias your sample.
Manitoba horse fly trap
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7013#horse
I have worked with Steve Mihok on NZI traps for Tabanids and stable flies in North America. The website shows that we were interested in accomplishing cattle and horse protection, so we deployed numerous NZI traps of varying colors and styles attempting to find the "right" (most attractive) color blue. The best appeared to be "phthalogen blue", the same as for East African tsetse flies. This color is the medium blue color sold in the excellent, long-lasting commercial polyester Sunbrella fabric. Some shiny nylon fabrics of dark or reddish blue were totally ineffective in commercial traps. We found that NZI traps with vertical panels of black were attractive to females of numerous species. I have personally emptied more than a liter of Tabanids from a single NZI bottle in Florida swamps after just 2 hours deployment: most that had climbed up into the bottle were still alive, as were many more resting inside the cloth& screen trap. "Attractive odorants" such as 1-octen-3-ol, acetone, ammonia, fermented urine and CO2 help, but results are highly variable. NZI traps were used to capture live biting flies for further research, as most other attractive trap devices yield only sticky, dead flies. The WIlliams flat intersecting fiberglass panel traps and several modified varieties (cylindrical) to attract and catch stable flies came from my USDA lab in Florida: they use glue, as combining them with insecticide only was problematic to show efficacy. The field collectors will have to use sticky cards or surrounding electric grad traps to show what flies actually live there, as done by Glyn Vale in Zimbabwe with tsetse flies. Some of the above is not in the published literature, but most is.
I agree with Allen: Manitoba horse fly trap. (see his link above).
If you are doing a diversity study, I would suggest you use at least two types of traps because some species are more attracted to certain models than others.
Hi, you might have to use sweep nets around cattle i.e. depending on whether you need them dead or alive!
Cheers,
JNI
Nzi traps - are ideal for tabanidae and transportation is easy. Try them. lalitha kbilan
Nzi trap is the best for collecting live tabanid flies, but I usually use collecting cage, that was used with NG2G trap at ICIPE, on instead of pet bottles.
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