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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mayaguez, Puerto Rico » Tropical Crops and Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #214629
Title: Hosts breadth and parasitoids of fruit flies (Anastrepha spp.) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Puerto Rico

Author
item Jenkins, David
item Goenaga, Ricardo

Submitted to: Environmental Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/9/2007
Publication Date: 2/1/2008
Citation: Jenkins, D.A., Goenaga, R.J. 2008. Hosts breadth and parasitoids of fruit flies (Anastrepha spp.) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Puerto Rico. Environmental Entomology. 37(1):110-120.

Interpretive Summary: Twenty fruit species were surveyed for the presence of larval fruit flies in Puerto Rico. Sixteen of these fruit species yielded fruit flies in the genus Anastrepha that are serious pests of economically important tropical fruits. The survey also revealed a low rate of parasitism by a single wasp species, Utetes anastrephae. This data provides an important baseline for future work on these pest flies and the wasps that consume them in Puerto Rico. Also, orchards may be planned in such a way as to reduce the proximity of possible alternate hosts that could be a source for infestation of fruit flies in the future.

Technical Abstract: Twenty fruit species representing 12 families were collected from various locations in western Puerto Rico and monitored for the emergence of Anastrepha spp. pupae. We collected 14,154 tephritid pupae from 16 fruit species representing 10 families. The relative infestations of these fruits (pupae/kg of fruit) were recorded. Observed host ranges were compared with the host ranges reported in the literature. Forty six specimens of the braconid parasitoid Utetes anastrephae (Viereck) were recovered from pupae collected from Mangifera indica (L.), Spondias mombin (L.), Psidium guajava L., Chrysobalanus icacos L., Terminalia catappa L., and Garcinia intermedia (Pittier) Hammel. Fruit yielding U. anastrephae were collected from the western north coast (Isabela and Hatillo), the west coast (Mayaguez and Añasco), and the mountainous center of the island (Corozal and Adjuntas). We collected one specimen of the parasitoid Doryctobracon aerolatus (Szepligeti) from the west coast (Añasco), which had not been previously reported in Puerto Rico. This study reveals idiosyncratic host usage by A. obliqua (Macquart) and A. suspensa (Loew) in Puerto Rico relative to other regions where these species occur. This host-usage pattern should give pause to regulators of fruit importation and exportation that base their decisions on literature from regions other than those of immediate interest to them. We present a preliminary phenology of what are probably the primary fruit hosts of the Anastrepha spp. of Puerto Rico. We also present the first report of Garcinia intermedia (Pittier) Hammel and Coffea arabica L. as reproductive hosts of A. suspensa.