Light traps kill honey bees

Light traps are used commonly in coconut plantations to trap insect pests of cocoanut.

Our studies used conventional light trap, set at 1.5 m height with 100 W bulb for period of six months from July to December in coconut plantation. We found that rather than the Coleopteran pests of palms for which the traps are intended, the traps caught beneficial bio-control agents like parasitoids. and pollinating and productive insects like honey bees. The major pollinator and productive insect in South India, the Indian honey bee Apis cerana was found trapped to great extent, with up to 90 worker bees trapped in one night

Since light traps in the coconut plantation did not attract the major insect pests of coconut but did trap honey bees and other bio-control agents of Lepidopteran pests, the setting of light traps in coconut plantations should be discouraged.

It is important to note that the presence of honey bee colonies in coconut plantations increases female flower (button) setting and ultimately the coconut yields.

S Sadakathulla and T K Ramachandran, Coconut Research Station, Tamil Nadu / G D Naidu Agricultural University