Survival and development of different life stages of three Ceratitis spp. (Diptera: Tephritidae) reared at five...

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are the most damaging pests on fruit crops on Réunion Island, near Madagascar. Survival and development of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), the Natal fruit fly, C. rosa Karsch and the Mascarenes fruit fly, C. catoirii Guérin-Mèneville were compared at five constant temperatures spanning 15 to 35 degrees C. Durations of the immature stages of C. capitata, C. rosa and C. catoirii ranged from 14.5-63.8, 18.8-65.7 and 16.8-65.8 days, respectively, at 30-15 degrees C. The lower developmental threshold and thermal constant were calculated using the temperature summation model. The thermal constant for total development of the immature stages of C. capitata, C. rosa and C. catoirii were 260, 405 and 356 DD, respectively. Species differed mainly during the larval stages and ovarian maturation period, with smaller differences in the egg stage. Ceratitis rosa appeared to be better adapted to low temperatures than the two other species as it showed a lower larval developmental threshold of 3.1 degrees C compared to 10.2 degrees C for C. capitata and 8.9 degrees C for C. catoirii. Overall, C. catoirii had a low survival rate within the range of temperatures studied. The different responses of the three Ceratitis species to various temperatures explain to some extent their distribution on the island. The results obtained will be used for optimizing laboratory rearing procedures and for constructing computer simulation models to predict fruit fly population dynamics.