Diversity and seasonality of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae and Lonchaeidae) and their parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae and Figitidae) in orchards of guava, loquat and peach

Mf Souza-Filho,Pc Strikis,Ra Zucchi,Ja Azevedo-Filho,A Raga,Ja Guimarães

doi:10.1590/s1519-69842009000100004

Abstract

This work was carried out in orchards of guava progenies, and loquat and peach cultivars, in Monte Alegre do Sul, SP, Brazil, in 2002 and 2003. Guavas and loquats were bagged and unbagged bi-weekly and weekly, respectively, for assessment of the infestation period. Peach was only bagged weekly. The assays started when the fruits were at the beginning of development, but still green. Ripe fruits were taken to the laboratory and placed individually into plastic cups. McPhail plastic traps containing torula yeast were hung from January 2002 to January 2004 to assess the fruit fly population in each orchard, but only the Ceratitis capitata population is here discussed. Five tephritid species were reared from the fruits: Anastrepha bistrigata Bezzi, A. fraterculus (Wiedemann), A. obliqua (Macquart), A. sororcula Zucchi, and C. capitata, in addition to six lonchaeid species: Neosilba certa (Walker), N. glaberrima (Wiedemann), N. pendula (Bezzi), N. zadolicha McAlpine and Steyskal, Neosilba sp. 4, and Neosilba sp. 10 (both species are in the process of being described by P. C. Strikis), as well as some unidentified Neosilba species. Ten parasitoid species were obtained from fruit fly puparia, of which five were braconids: Asobara anastrephae (Muesebeck), Doryctobracon areolatus (Szépligeti), D. brasiliensis (Szépligeti), Opius bellus Gahan, and Utetes anastrephae (Viereck), and five figitids: Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brèthes), Dicerataspis grenadensis Ashmead, Lopheucoila anastrephae (Rhower), Leptopilina boulardi (Barbotin, Carlton and Kelner-Pillaut), and Trybliographa infuscata Diaz, Gallardo and Uchôa. Ceratitis capitata showed a seasonal behavior with population density peaking at the second semester of each year. Anastrepha and Neosilba species remained in the orchards throughout both years.

Highlights

Plant susceptibility to insects depends on the phenological synchrony between both
Knowledge about fruit fly species and their respective seasonalities related to host plant phenology is crucial to understand the population dynamics of these insects
Fruit infestation is influenced by its degree of maturation during the fruit fly oviposition period (Messina and Jones, 1990)

Summary

Introduction

Plant susceptibility to insects depends on the phenological synchrony between both. In turn, a suitable plant for the development of an insect population can often escape herbivory because the insect seasonality does not coincide with the plant susceptible stage (Messina and Jones, 1990).Knowledge about fruit fly species and their respective seasonalities related to host plant phenology is crucial to understand the population dynamics of these insects. Plant susceptibility to insects depends on the phenological synchrony between both. A suitable plant for the development of an insect population can often escape herbivory because the insect seasonality does not coincide with the plant susceptible stage (Messina and Jones, 1990). Knowledge about fruit fly species and their respective seasonalities related to host plant phenology is crucial to understand the population dynamics of these insects. Foraging differences can be observed, as fruit flies make incursions into fruits of a certain developmental stage. Such information can be obtained by bagging and unbagging fruits throughout their development (Dias and Vásquez, 1993)

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