One hundred years ago, it was observed that greenhouse white- flies, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) are particularly attracted to opaque yellow traps (Lloyd, 1921). Today, millions of sticky traps (card or plastic covered with a thin layer of a clear adhesive substance) of different colours are used worldwide. They are used for the monitoring, decision making (Böckmann et al, 2015), and mass trapping (Sampson and Kirk, 2013), of flying crop pests as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
This article explores how traps are used today, recent developments and the next steps needed to make the best use of these simple tools.
