Size-Specific Survival and Fecundity for Laboratory Strains of Two Tephritid (Diptera: Tephritidae) Species: Implications for Mass Rearing

Abstract

The influence of body size on adult survivorship and fecundity up to the massrearing discard age (age at which the lifetime production of pupae per female is maximum) was determined for laboratory-reared Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), and the oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis (Hendel). Fecundity increased with size, but survivorship was not affected. The size-specific vital rates were applied to a demographic massrearing model. Implications for mass-rearing are discussed.