Population studies of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in south-east Queensland

Weekly fruit fly captures for a 12-month period on Mt Glorious (south-east Queensland) suggested that at higher altitudes very few flies survived the winter and that there was an annual colonisation of the higher altitudes by flies from the lower altitudes. The peak trap captures of Dacus tryoni (Froggatt) and Dacus neohumeralis Hardy corresponded with the fruiting times of their major hosts. The fly populations increased with the onset of higher temperatures and the beginning of the summer rain period and decreased with the decline in temperature and rainfall in autumn. Studies on Dacus cacuminatus (Hering) showed that when environmental conditions are suitable this species efficiently exploits its host resulting in rapid population increases.