The Western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis, is an important pest of many crops worldwide and a vector of viral pathogens. Studying the orientation and approach of flying WFT toward attractive targets can enhance the efficacy of monitoring this pest. Monitoring WFT in open fields using attractive colored traps mounted on a wind vane indicated that most trapped thrips were on the leeward of the traps. In this study, we determined the distribution of trapped WFT on cylindrical yellow traps under controlled conditions in a wind tunnel (24 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 4% RH, airflow speeds 0.19 m sec^− 1). In each replicate, we released 150–250 WFT females, either upwind or downwind of the cylindrical yellow sticky trap. Each replicate lasted six hours. Overall, 79%±14 of the released WFT females flew actively and 59%±15 of those that flew were trapped. The vast majority of the thrips were trapped on leeward of the cylindrical yellow traps. Of the WFT females released downwind of the trap, 93%±3 (N = 6) were trapped on the leeward, while of those released upwind of the trap, 81%±8 (N = 7) were trapped on the leeward. A behavioral-biomechanical model simulating WFT flight towards the attractive yellow cylinders predicted that, as long as airflow speed is below the WFT flight speed, 71–84% of the WFT will be trapped on the leeward. The results of this study agree with the trapping distributions of WFT recorded in field studies. The results also suggest that, when airflow speed is below the WFT flight speed, most WFT approach visually attractive traps by actively flying upwind.

西花蓟马（WFT），Frankliniella occidentalis，是全世界许多作物的重要害虫，也是病毒病原体的载体。研究 WFT 飞向有吸引力目标的方向和方法可以提高监测这种害虫的效率。使用安装在风向标上的彩色诱捕器对开阔田地的 WFT 进行监测表明，大多数被困的蓟马都位于诱捕器的下风方向。在这项研究中，我们确定了风洞中受控条件下圆柱形黄色陷阱上捕获的 WFT 的分布（24 ± 1 °C，70 ± 4% RH，气流速度 0.19 m sec − ¹）。在每个重复中，我们在圆柱形黄色粘性陷阱的上风或下风处释放了 150-250 只 WFT 雌性。每个重复持续六个小时。总体而言，79%±14 的被释放的 WFT 雌性飞行活跃，而 59%±15 的飞行雌性被困。绝大多数蓟马被困在圆柱形黄色陷阱的下风处。在诱集器下风向释放的 WFT 雌性中，93%±3 ( N  = 6) 被困在下风向，而在诱集器上风向释放的 WFT 雌性中，81%±8 ( N = 7) 被困在下风处。模拟 WFT 飞向有吸引力的黄色圆柱体的行为生物力学模型预测，只要气流速度低于 WFT 飞行速度，71-84% 的 WFT 将被困在下风处。本研究的结果与现场研究中记录的 WFT 捕获分布一致。结果还表明，当气流速度低于 WFT 飞行速度时，大多数 WFT 通过主动逆风飞行来接近视觉上有吸引力的陷阱。