OCCURRENCE OF CERATITIS CAPITATA AND ANASTREPHA FRATERCULUS (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) ON CULTIVATED, EXOTIC FRUIT SPECIES IN THE HIGHLAND VALLEYS OF TUCUMAN IN NORTHWEST ARGENTINA

OVRUSKI, SERGIO MARCELO; SCHLISERMAN, PABLO; VAN NIEUWENHOVE, GUIDO A.; BEZDJIAN, LAURA P.; NÚÑEZ CAMPERO, REGUNDO RICARDO; ALBORNOZ MEDINA, PATRICIA

FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST

FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC

Año: 2010 vol. 93 p. 277 - 282

0015-4040

Fruits from 6 exotic, cultivated fruit species were collected in the Tafí and Calchaquí valleysbetween Jan 2000 and Jan 2002 to determine the occurrence of Ceratitis capitata (Wiede-mann) and Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) and the corresponding fruit infestation lev-els. The valleys are situated in the western semiarid highlands of Tucumán province (NWArgentina) and the altitude ranges from 1,800 to 2,014 m above sea level. The fruit speciessurveyed were Cydonia oblonga Miller, Malus domestica Borkh., Prunus armeniaca L., P.domestica L., P. persica (L.) Batsch, and Pyrus communis L. (Rosaceae). Out of a total of2,129 puparia recovered from infested fruit, 2,112 (98.8%) were C. capitata and only 27(1.2%) A. fraterculus. Ceratitis capitata was recovered from all fruit species and it was thedominant species. Anastrepha fraterculus was only recovered from C. oblonga, P. persica andP. domestica. All Prunus species and P. communis were the host plants that were infestedmost by C. capitata. The infestation data of C. oblonga, P. communis and M. domestica dem-onstrated that these 3 fruit species were acceptable host plants for C. capitata in Tucumán.This study provides the first record of both C. capitata and A. fraterculus infesting fruit spe-cies in semiarid highland valleys in Tucumán, and it also expands the altitudinal range ofdistribution of these two tephritid species to 2,014 m within the Tucumán province.