SEXUAL MATURATION IN A MUTANT STRAIN OF ANASTREPHA FRATERCULUS (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE).

PERALTA, PATRICIA A; SEGURA, DIEGO F; MILLA, FABIÁN H.; CLADERA, JORGE L

Valencia

Congreso; VIII International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance; 2010

Background: Sexual maturation is a relatively long process in Anastrepha males. This leads to an increase in the costs to apply the sterile insect technique (SIT) because the flies must be kept in laboratory conditions for several days before released. Our objective was to study the duration of the sexual maturation process in a mutant strain in Anastrepha fraterculus and to study the heredability of this trait. Methods: To estimate sexual maturity we observed the sexual behavior of males at different ages, after offering them sexually mature virgin females. The percentage of males that mated at different ages was the variable under study. We analyzed two strains: an eye color mutant (#3210) and a wild-type strain as control (L-TUC). We found that males from strain #3210 had a significantly shorter pre-copulatory period than the males from the other strain. To study the heredability of this character in the mutant strain, we performed crosses between individuals from the #3210 strain and the males and females of wild-type stock. Results: We observed that the sons of #3210 males matured significantly faster than the descendants of wild-type males, irrespective of the origin of the mother. When the descendants of both sexes were analyzed at the 6th and 13th generation, we found that these results were repeated. Conclusions: These results encourage the use of this strain of A. fraterculus both as model to study the inheritance of genes associated to the sexual maturation, and also as a candidate strain for massive rearing and release with the framework of an SIT program against this fruit fly pest.