阅读说明：本技术 产生用于害虫诱捕器的引诱剂的系统和方法 (System and method for generating attractants for pest traps ) 是由 罗伯特·约翰·克莱顿·弗莱尔斯 加雷斯·大卫·芬克 尼尔·德苏扎-马修 于 2019-01-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种产生对一种或多种昆虫有吸引力的物质的系统/方法,其特征在于：容纳一群活的昆虫；向所述活的昆虫提供营养、食物或水的任何组合；从这群中去除有机物；和对所去除的有机物进行灭菌。(A system/method for producing a substance that is attractive to one or more insects, characterized by: containing a population of living insects; providing any combination of nutrients, food or water to the living insects; removing organic matter from the population; and sterilizing the removed organic matter.)

1. A system for producing a substance that is attractive to one or more insects, comprising:

a housing for containing a group of living insects;

a subsystem that allows a combination of nutrients, food or water to be provided to the insect;

a subsystem for removing organic matter from the housing; and

the removed material is sterilized to prevent any biologically active subsystems in the attractant.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the organic removal subsystem separates living insects from the organic.

3. The system of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a preparation subsystem for preparing the organic matter into a form suitable for use as an attractant.

4. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein the preparation subsystem slices, mash, or slurries the organic matter.

5. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the organic matter comprises all or a selected portion of the insect or its egg.

6. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the organic matter consists of secretions of the insects.

7. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the substance is attractive to one or any combination of flies, beetles, bugs, moths, bollworms, termites, ants, wasps, social insects.

8. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insect contained within the housing is a prey of an insect to be attracted.

9. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing is maintained at a constant temperature.

10. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sterilization subsystem operates by applying any combination of heating, cooling, or radiation to the organic matter.

11. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the attracting substance is configured for use in an insect trap or detector.

12. A method of producing a substance that is attractive to one or more insects, characterized by:

containing a population of living insects;

providing any combination of nutrients, food or water to the living insects;

removing organic matter from the population; and

sterilizing the removed organic matter.

13. The method of claim 12, further characterized by separating the living insects from the organic matter.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the sterilizing is performed by heating, cooling, or irradiating the organic matter.

15. The method of claim 12, 13 or 14, wherein the substance is attractive to one or any combination of flies, beetles, bugs, moths, weevils, cotton bollworms, termites, ants, wasps, social insects.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to systems (i.e., devices) and methods for generating attractants for insect traps to increase the effectiveness of the traps.

Background

Disclosure of Invention

The present inventors have recognized the problem of known solutions for attracting insects. Such solutions use certain chemicals that are attractive to the target insect, but do not fully replicate the complex combination of naturally occurring chemicals, thus limiting the effectiveness of known attractants with respect to efficacy, longevity, or efficacy.

This and other aspects will be apparent from the embodiments described below. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited by the summary of the invention nor is it necessarily limited to embodiments that solve any or all disadvantages noted.

The present invention includes systems and methods for generating attractants for insect traps, wherein the attractants include or consist of biological material produced by raising and/or processing of the insects.

The attractants produced by the insect itself may fully replicate the natural odor that synthetic attractants in the art attempt to mimic; this may enable the trap to more effectively attract the target insect.

It should be noted that in this case the insect trap is not limited to devices that physically restrict entry of insects; any device that detects, limits, immobilizes, or kills insects by any means is considered to be within the scope of the term "trap" as used herein.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a system for producing a substance that is attractive to one or more insects is provided. The system includes a housing containing a population of living insects. The system may further comprise a subsystem allowing to provide nutrients, food and/or water to the insects. The system may further include a subsystem for removing organic matter from the housing. The system may further include a subsystem that sterilizes the removed material to prevent any biological activity in the attractant.

The system may further include a preparation subsystem to prepare the organic matter into a form suitable for use as an attractant.

The preparation subsystem may include a mechanism to triturate or pulp the organic material.

The system may be configured to generate attractants from all or selected portions of the insect

The system may be configured to generate attractants from insect secretions

The system may be configured to generate attractants from sterilized insect eggs

The system may be configured to produce the attractant from one or any combination of flies, beetles, bugs, moths, bollworms, termites, ants, wasps, social insects, or the like.

The system may be configured to produce an attractant from an insect that is a prey of the insect to be attracted.

The system may be configured to produce the attractant from the same species of insect as the insect to be attracted.

The system may further be configured such that the population of insects is contained in a temperature controlled environment.

The system may be further configured to sterilize the organic matter by heating, cooling, or radiation to prevent the biological activity from being present in the organic matter.

The system may be further configured to generate an attractant for use in the insect trap or detector.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a method of producing a substance attractive to one or more insects, characterised by: containing a population of living insects; any combination of nutrients, food or water to live insects; removing organic matter from the population and sterilizing the removed organic matter

The method may also be characterized by separating living insects from organic matter

The method may also be characterized by heating, cooling or irradiating the organic matter.

The method may also be characterized by producing a substance that is attractive to one or any combination of flies, beetles, bugs, moths, weevils, cotton bollworms, termites, ants, wasps, social insects.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of an insect trap with a novel attractant;

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of a preferred embodiment of a system for generating an attractant; and

fig. 3 is a diagram of an embodiment of a single production unit suitable for use as an attractant for social insects.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure provides a method, device and system that is practical, inexpensive and allows for the production of attractants from the natural biochemical characteristics of insects.

The present disclosure also provides systems/hardware for traps utilizing the novel attractants.

While the present disclosure has been described with respect to a presently preferred embodiment involving the generation and use of attractants, it should be understood that the features of the present disclosure may be applied to any application where it is desirable to attract insects.

The methods, devices, and systems are capable of generating attractants from the insect's anatomy or the insect's excreta. Such attractants may be produced from, but are not limited to, the entire insect, insect body, insect egg, molt, excrement, or other secretions.

The methods, devices, and systems are capable of producing a biological sterile attractant by sterilization. Such sterilization includes, but is not limited to, heating, cooling, ionizing radiation, and electromagnetic radiation.

The present disclosure relates generally to the generation of attractants for pest control, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to techniques for generating attractants for pest traps.

Embodiments will now be described by way of example only.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a system that advantageously implements the described techniques is illustrated. The system comprises an attractant 1, for example produced in the manner best seen in figures 2 and 3 and described in detail below. The attractant is contained in the housing 2. The housing has the function of preventing insects from crawling away from the trap. Methods of achieving this will be familiar to those skilled in the art, and may include, but are not limited to, in various embodiments: physical features that discharge electricity to kill insects, prevent insects entering the trap from exiting, or adhesives for securing insects entering the trap. Figure 1 shows one possible embodiment in which the ramp 3 allows insects to enter the trap but cannot climb up the rim 4 to escape once they enter the trap. A corresponding method is also provided.

Referring to fig. 2, a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the attractant-producing system is shown. The generating unit 5 contains a group of living insects. The generating unit is best seen in fig. 3, which will be described in detail below. In this system, the generating unit is operatively connected to a feeding subsystem that supplies water, nutrients and other necessary substances to keep the population of insects in a healthy state. In this embodiment, the supply subsystem and the generating unit may be maintained at a temperature favorable to insects by a temperature control chamber 7. Periodically, material may be removed from the production unit and sterilized, for example, by gamma radiation in sterilization module 8. The purpose of this is to kill any living insects or eggs and prevent them from subsequently hatching in the attractant. It will be appreciated that other embodiments may incorporate alternative sterilization means such as heating or microwave radiation. The final stage of attractant preparation 9 may be carried out to process the material into a form suitable for use in a trap. In a preferred embodiment, this is done by mechanical crushing and/or slurrying into a paste. A corresponding method is also provided.

In other embodiments, the generation unit may be removed from the temperature control chamber and its entire contents sterilized and made an attractant. This embodiment is advantageous as an inexpensive system in which the entire insect population can be effectively used as an attractant and the age of the insects is not important, for example in which the insects in the production unit are preys of the insects to be attracted.

In another embodiment, material is continuously removed from the production unit by means of a conveyor or other continuous system, as shown in fig. 3.

Reference is made to fig. 3, which is an embodiment of a generating unit suitable for generating an attractant from insect faeces or eggs. Inside the generating unit, a housing 11 retains the insects 10 and prevents them from escaping outside the unit. In an embodiment, a strip of material, such as a continuous strip of material 12, may be passed through the housing, such as on rollers 17. The rollers may be configured to create a surface at a non-zero angle with the horizontal, e.g., sufficient to inhibit insects from climbing and escaping, e.g., greater than 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 degrees. The material 12 may comprise or consist of a material capable of attracting insects to gather thereon. For many social insects, such as ants and bed bugs, filter paper and/or muslin may be effective for this purpose. In some embodiments, the feeding subsystem 6 is configured to deliver food for the insects onto the material 12, further stimulating the accumulation of insects on the material. Insects will perform their natural feeding and breeding actions on the material. As a result, the material will be covered with e.g. eggs and/or faeces and/or other material shed from insects. In embodiments, this strip of material exiting the production unit may be cut (13) into lengths of material, for example, of size 14, suitable for use in an insect trap. The resulting lengths of material 15 may be periodically removed for sterilization.

A corresponding method may involve providing a material, such as a strip of material, at a non-zero angle to a horizontal plane defined, for example, by the bottom of the housing. The method may additionally or alternatively involve passing the (strip of) material through the housing. The method may additionally or alternatively involve delivering food onto the (strip of) material using a feeding subsystem. The method may further involve harvesting the product of the insect from the (strip of) material; the product may be, for example, an insect egg, face, skin/exoskeleton or other insect product. The collected product on/associated with the material(s) after removal from the material may then be sterilized.

In other embodiments, the generating unit of the system may comprise the ability to separate the mature insects from the generating unit for processing into an attractant. This may be accomplished by, but is not limited to, a method of separating larger insects from smaller insects by a sizing screen.

The techniques described herein may also be used with arachnids, particularly ticks such as mites, ticks, and the like.

No doubt many other effective alternatives will occur to the skilled person. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the described embodiments and encompasses modifications apparent to those skilled in the art lying within the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereto.