Though traps are used widely to sample phytophagous insects for research or management purposes, and recently in aging research, possible bias stemming from differential response of individuals of various ages to traps has never been examined. In this paper, we tested the response of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) males and females of four ages (spanning from 1 to 40 days) to McPhail‐type traps baited with a synthetic food attractant in field cages and found that the probability of trapping was significantly influenced by age. The type of food on which flies were maintained before testing (sugar or protein) also had a strong effect and interacted with age. In another experiment, we collected wild C. capitata adults of unknown age using 1–3 methods and then reared them in the laboratory until death. The survival schedules of these flies were subsequently used in a life table assay to infer their age at the time of capture. Results showed that on a single sampling date, males captured in traps baited with a food attractant were younger compared with males aspirated from fruiting host trees, or males captured in traps baited with a sex attractant. Likewise, females captured in food‐baited traps were younger compared with aspirated females. In addition to providing the first evidence of age‐dependent sampling bias for a phytophagous insect species, this paper also provides a novel approach to estimate the differences in the age composition of samples collected with different techniques. These findings are of utmost importance for several categories of insects, medically important groups notwithstanding.

中文翻译：

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田间捕获的地中海果蝇的生命表分析，Ceratitis capitalta，揭示年龄偏见

尽管诱捕器被广泛用于研究或管理目的的植食性昆虫采样，并且最近在老化研究中，从未检查过不同年龄的个体对诱捕器的不同反应所引起的可能偏差。在本文中，我们测试了四个年龄（跨度从 1 到 40 天）的头角螟（Wiedemann）（双翅目：实蝇科）雄性和雌性对在田间笼子中使用合成食物引诱剂诱饵的 McPhail 型诱捕器的反应，发现被诱捕的概率受年龄的影响很大。苍蝇在测试前食用的食物类型（糖或蛋白质）也有很强的影响，并与年龄相互作用。在另一个实验中，我们使用 1-3 种方法收集了未知年龄的野生 C. capita 成虫，然后在实验室中将它们饲养至死亡。这些果蝇的生存时间表随后被用于生命表分析，以推断它们在捕获时的年龄。结果表明，在单个采样日期，与从结果寄主树中吸出的雄性或在性引诱剂诱饵中捕获的雄性相比，被食物引诱剂诱捕的雄性捕获的雄性更年轻。同样，与吸入的雌性相比，在食物诱饵陷阱中捕获的雌性更年轻。除了提供植食性昆虫物种年龄依赖性采样偏差的第一个证据外，本文还提供了一种新方法来估计用不同技术收集的样本的年龄组成差异。这些发现对几类昆虫至关重要，尽管它们是医学上重要的群体。