U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2002





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 New Trap Kills House Flies
By Jim CoreNovember 8, 2002
A new trap invented by Agricultural Research Service scientists attracts, kills and retains the bodies of house flies, offering a promising alternative for fly control in areas where food products are stored or prepared.
Indoor flies are a potential health hazard to humans because they can transfer numerous disease organisms by just walking across exposed foods. Using chemical pesticides against them is risky if the chemicals are applied near food. And most fly traps have been designed for use either outdoors, or indoors in agricultural settings.
Now scientists Jerome A. Hogsette and David A. Carlson at the ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla., have designed a new trap that overcomes those problems. Dubbed "Flybrella" by Carlson, the trap resembles an upside-down umbrella. It can also be used to capture other flying insects, according to Hogsette, a research entomologist with the center's Mosquito and Fly Research Unit.
Flybrella lures flies by taking advantage of their natural attraction to selected chemical odors and to vertically hanging objects. After entering the trap, flies eat the poisonous bait. Dying flies fall inside a tube and into an inverted plastic cone attached beneath. The trap has a removable cylindrical body, a toxicant panel and an insect collector. It is designed to contain the dead flies and conceal them from sight. Flybrella hangs from a hook or is attached by ties to electrical cables or other vertical surfaces approximately six feet from the floor.
Two Flybrellas captured 98 percent of flies released in laboratory studies. The trap would be ideal for supermarkets, restaurants and any store where food is prepared or kept. Flybrella is safe and inexpensive to produce. It uses the QuickStrike toxicant strip Hogsette helped develop for agricultural use in the early 1990s. QuickStrike has been very successful at controlling flies in poultry facilities. One of its ingredients is Muscalure, a sex attractant discovered by Carlson and widely used in commercial fly baits.
ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency, has filed a patent application on the trap. ARS is interested in cooperating with a commercial partner to further develop and commercialize this technology.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov