The Sterile Insect Technique: Success and Perspectives in the Neotropics
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The Sterile Insect Technique: Success and Perspectives in the Neotropics D PÉREZ-STAPLES1 , F DÍAZ-FLEISCHER1 , P MONTOYA2 1
INBIOTECA, Univ Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico Programa Moscafrut SENASICA-SADER, Metapa de Domínguez, Chiapas, Mexico
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Keywords Area-wide management, pests, autocidal control, Diptera, Tephritidae Correspondence D. Pérez- Staples, INBIOTECA, Univ Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico; [email protected] Edited by Lessando Moreira Gontijo – UFV Received 2 June 2020 and accepted 14 September 2020 * Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil 2020
Abstract The sterile insect technique (SIT), an environmentally friendly means of control, is currently used against plant, animal, and human pests under the area-wide integrated pest management. It consists in the mass production, sterilization, and release of insects in an affected area where sterile males mate with wild females leading to no reproduction. Here, we review SIT in the Neotropics and focus on particular recent successful cases of eradication of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), as well as effective programs used against the Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Loew), the New World screwworm fly Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel)), and the Cactus moth Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg). We examine when SIT does not work and innovations that have made SIT more efficient and also highlight complimentary techniques that can be used in conjunction. We address potential candidate species that could be controlled through SIT, for example Philornis downsi Dodge & Aitken. Finally, we consider the impact of climate change in the context of the use of the SIT against these pests. Given the recent dramatic decline in insect biodiversity, investing in environmentally friendly means of pest control should be a priority. We conclude that SIT should be promoted in the region, and leadership and political will is needed for continued success of SIT in the Neotropics.
Introduction The sterile insect technique (SIT) consists in the mass production, sterilization, and release of insects into infested areas, where sterile males mate with wild females resulting in no offspring and thus reducing pest populations (Knipling 1955). It is used worldwide to control, suppress, and eradicate an important number of pests, including various species of flies, mosquitoes, moths, and beetles (Bakri et al 2020). The SIT has been successfully used against the codling moth (Cydia pomonella L.), the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders)), the light-brown apple moth (Epiphyas postivittana (Walk.)), and tsetse flies (Glossina spp.), to name a few (Klassen & Curtis 2005).
The necessity and urgency to invest in environmentally friendly means of control for insect pests is highlighted by recent reports of developmental resistance by pests to both conventional insecticides and bioinsecticides (Guillem-Amat et al 2020), Furthermore, a devastating decrease in insect diversity worldwide (van Klink et al 2020; Cardoso et al 2020) has been attrib
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