New Host Plant Record for Toxotrypana curvicauda (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

The papaya fruit fly, Toxotrypana curvicauda, has been considered to date a strictly monophagous species infesting wild and cultivated papaya (Carica papaya L.). Castrejon-Ayala (1987) reported infestations in another Caricaceae, Jacaratia mexicana A.D.C. (=Pileus mexicana) in the State of Morelos, Mexico. Baker et al. (1944) reported that T. curvicauda also infested a plant locally known as talayote or talayotillo but never provided any precise botanical identification. Here we report T. curvicauda infestations on Gonolobus sorodius A. Gray (Asclepiadaceae), locally known as pancolote. We collected 32 larvae of T. curvicauda infesting 6 fruit of G. sorodius during October, 1990 in Yautepec (Barranca Honda, San Isidro), Morelos, Mexico. Larvae, pupae and adults emerging from the larvae were sent to Vicente Hernandez (Instituto de Ecologia, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) for taxonomic identification. Voucher specimens have been placed in the permanent insect collections of the Instituto de Ecologia, A. C. and the Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bioticos del Instituto Politecnico Nacional. Taxonomic identification of G. sorodius was carried out by the Dept. of Botany at the Universidad de Morelos in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Our findings reported here confirm the report by Castrejon (1987), who also recovered T. curvicauda (not confirmed at the time) from G. sorodius fruit. Based on our findings, T. curvicauda should not be considered henceforth a monophagous insect. We thank Martin Aluja for reviewing and translating this note and Vicente Hernandez-Ortiz for identifying the T. curvicauda specimens reported here.