Identification and Behavioral Evaluation of Ketone Attractants for the Stable Fly, Stomoxys calcitrans.
- 1Apex Bait Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA.
Abstract
The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans L., is one of the most damaging blood-feeding pests of livestock. Stable flies use odors associated with vertebrate hosts and their environments to locate blood meal and suitable oviposition and larval-development sites. Previous studies have identified behaviorally active gases, phenolic compounds, short-chain fatty acids, alcohols, and sulfur-containing compounds from cattle-associated odor sources, but ketones have received limited behavioral investigation. We first evaluated stable-fly attraction to host- and resource-associated substrates, including chicken manure, wet blood meal and sheep blood and characterized volatile compounds from attractive materials using SPME-GC-MS. We then tested ketones detected in the headspace of these substrates or reported in published studies. Three ketones, 1-octen-3-one, 3-octanone, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, significantly attracted adult stable flies. Following blend evaluation, 3-octanone and 1-octen-3-one were selected as the two-component K-lure blend which was significantly more attractive than the control in choice assays. Combining K-lure with the previously reported phenol-m-cresol blend elicited the highest response among the treatments tested. In a subsequent sticky-card trapping assay, traps baited with K-lure captured significantly more stable flies than the control traps. These results identify ketones as stable fly attractants and support further evaluation of K-lure in trap-based monitoring and management.
Related
- Cause-excluded Effect Evaluation: a framework for the faithful assessment of genetic perturbation target identification
- Identification of Microalgae, Evaluation of Water Purification Efficiency, and Optimization of Large-Scale Production Conditions Based on Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
- Integrated Phytochemical Profiling, Bioactive Compound Identification and Functional Evaluation of Cissus quadrangularis L.
- The ethical and regulatory framework of medical artificial intelligence (AI) system’s behavioral performance for image-based diagnostics: An ethical evaluation of the International and European Union Scope
- Evaluation of PSII Thermal Stability in Grapevine Germplasm and Identification of Candidate Genes Based on a Genome-Wide Association Study
BibTeX
@article{parepely2026identification,
title = {{Identification and Behavioral Evaluation of Ketone Attractants for the Stable Fly, Stomoxys calcitrans.}},
author = {Saravan Kumar Parepely and Abhinav Kumar Maurya and Dangsheng Liang},
journal = {Insects},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/insects17101071},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42940980},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Identification and Behavioral Evaluation of Ketone Attractants for the Stable Fly, Stomoxys calcitrans.
AU - Saravan Kumar Parepely
AU - Abhinav Kumar Maurya
AU - Dangsheng Liang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Insects
DO - 10.3390/insects17101071
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42940980
AB - The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans L., is one of the most damaging blood-feeding pests of livestock. Stable flies use odors associated with vertebrate hosts and their environments to locate blood meal and suitable oviposition and larval-development sites. Previous studies have identified behaviorally active gases, phenolic compounds, short-chain fatty acids, alcohols, and sulfur-containing compounds from cattle-associated odor sources, but ketones have received limited behavioral investigation. We first evaluated stable-fly attraction to host- and resource-associated substrates, including chicken manure, wet blood meal and sheep blood and characterized volatile compounds from attractive materials using SPME-GC-MS. We then tested ketones detected in the headspace of these substrates or reported in published studies. Three ketones, 1-octen-3-one, 3-octanone, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, significantly attracted adult stable flies. Following blend evaluation, 3-octanone and 1-octen-3-one were selected as the two-component K-lure blend which was significantly more attractive than the control in choice assays. Combining K-lure with the previously reported phenol-m-cresol blend elicited the highest response among the treatments tested. In a subsequent sticky-card trapping assay, traps baited with K-lure captured significantly more stable flies than the control traps. These results identify ketones as stable fly attractants and support further evaluation of K-lure in trap-based monitoring and management.
SN - 2075-4450
ER -