USDA Research Leads to Commercial Stinging Insect Trap

(Agricultural Research Service, USDA)

Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets will spoil any summer barbeque or picnic, but they also pose a serious threat to agriculture field workers, particularly at harvest time. Research by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has led to development of a trap that protects picnickers and field hands alike from these stinging pests.

Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets are attracted to sugary foods and drinks. At the Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory in Wapato, Washington, ARS researchers isolated two compounds from fermented molasses to produce an attractant that lures these pests. ARS holds patents on the attractant and licensed it to Sterling International Inc., of Spokane, Washington.

Sterling International then developed attractant blends and a trap, sold commercially as the RESCUE! W-H-Y (Wasps, Hornets and Yellow jackets) Trap. The blend attracts 12 yellow jacket species, multiple paper wasp species, and two kinds of hornets. The W-H-Y trap has two compartments. The bottom part lures primarily western and southern yellow jackets. The top section uses a different attractant blend to attract other yellow jacket species, hornets, and paper wasps.