Area-wide pest management is one of several major plans or strategies for coping with pest problems. Management of localized populations is the conventional or most widely used strategy, wherein individual producers, other operators and households practice independent pest control. However, since individual producers or households are not capable of adequately meeting the challenge of certain v...

The origin of specific insect genotypes that enable efficient use of agricultural plants is an important subject not only in applied fields like pest control and management but also in basic disciplines like evolutionary biology. Conventionally, it has been presupposed that such pest-related ecological traits are attributed to genes encoded in the insect genomes. Here, however, we report that p...

The Lucilia cuprina genetic control program conducted by members of CSIRO Entomology is reviewed. A strategy for reviving interest in area-wide control of this pest is suggested through the development of mass-rearing abilities, leading to the application of SIRM to eradicate the pest from Tasmania. Genetic control methods could be integrated in the SIRM program if appropriate strains could be ...