Irreversible Damage to Flight Muscles Resulting from Disturbance of Pupae during Rearing of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata1

Abstract

The agitation involved in the sifting of pupae of Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), from the substrate in which they have pupated results in an irreversible effect on the flight muscles if the sifting occurs during the 4th through 6th days of pupal development at 21°C. The effect consists of the separation of the attachment of the median dorsal muscles from the posterior phragma, so that the affected muscles are attached only at their anterior ends. This detachment, and the resulting shortening of the muscles, was found to have occurred even in pupae sampled immediately after the sifting process. During the remaining days of pupal development, the affected muscles remain only as much-shortened stubs attached to, and lying close against, the anterior, dorsal thoracic body wall. Adult flies from affected pupae cannot fly.