Host plant of Ceratitis capitata and Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Tucuman Northwest Argentina.

OROÑO, L. E.; P., SCHLISERMAN Y S. M., OVRUSKI

Mendoza - Argentina

Otro; 4th Meeting of the Working Group on Fruit Fles of the western Hemisfere.; 2001

Working Group on Fruit Fles of the western Hemisfere.

  Two economic importance tephritid especies occur throughout  nortwestern province of Tucuman (Argentina): Namely, The mediterranean frut fly or medfly (Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) and the south American fruit fly (Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann): Both fruit fly species cause important fruit losses, both by direct damage to the citrus fruits and by the quarentine measures imposed by free countries of these pests. The host plant range of A. fraterculus y C. capitata is extremely broad and it varies from one region to another. The variability in host range is influenced mainly by the habitat environmentand by chemical and physical characteristics of the fruits. In Tucuman the presence of alternative hosts like native and exotic wild fruits could mintain constant the fruit fly populations when climatic conditions are favorable. In this context, the objective of this study was to identify cultivated, wild, native and exotic hosts plants of  C. capitata and A. fraterculus in Tucuman province. A list of host plants was compiled from a wide  variety of bibliographic sources and from collections of wild and cultivated fruits troughout Tucumán between 1990 and 2000. The published host plant records were only considered when fruit fly specimens were reared of the fruit flies captures with traps on fruit trees do not indicate the host from which they come. I wenty- one species were identified as host for A. fraterculus, and twenty two species for C. capitata. Most of the susceptible host plants belong to the Myrtaceae, Rosaceae families.