HOST STATUS OF MAMEY SAPOTE, POUTERIA SAPOTA (SAPOTACEAE), TO THE WEST INDIAN FRUIT FLY, ANASTREPHA OBLIQUA (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) IN PUERTO RICO

Abstract

The authors evaluated the host status of mamey sapote, Pouteria sapota (Sapotaceae) to Anastrepha obliqua by collecting mature fruits and monitoring them for the emergence of larval Tephritidae. Fruits were also scarred and placed in cages with female A. obliqua and monitored for the emergence of larvae and adults. Multi-lure traps baited with putrescine and ammonium acetate were used to compare the number of flies in orchards of mamey sapote to the number of flies in nearby orchards of carambola (Averrhoa carambola: Oxalidaceae). There are a number of references citing mamey sapote as a host of A. obliqua in different countries. However, we only found two unidentified tephritid larva from 1,160 mamey sapote fruits collected in the field and these fly larvae did not survive to adulthood. We were not able to rear adult A. obliqua on scarred, mature fruit of mamey sapote, whereas we were able to do so on mango under identical conditions. Abundance in orchards based on trapping indicates that flies are very rarely encountered in orchards of mamey sapote compared with orchards of carambola. We conclude that in Puerto Rico mamey sapote has a very low (undetectable) rate of infestation by fruit flies in the family Tephritidae.