CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens is a North American pest threatening fruit crops like mango and citrus. One of the controlling methods is the sterile insect technique (SIT), which demands a good knowledge of the species biology. Dispersal is one of the traits associated with field performance of released males and it would be dependent of wing size and shape, two traits susceptible to rearing conditions but with a large genetic component. The main objective of this work was to assess the relationship between two morphometric traits (wing length and wing width) and the mobility. A central point release and capture experiment was conducted in a mango orchard near Tapachula, Mexico using McPhail traps disposed in concentric circles. Traps were classified in 2 groups near (15 m from the releasing point) and far (located at 60 ± 30 m from it). Wings of flies captured in 27 traps were measured (218 and 309 individuals captured in near and far traps respectively). Both univariate (ANOVA) and multivariate (MANOVA) tests showed significant differences between the two groups. A Bayesian test (with the Geneland software) confirmed the existence of two clusters with different spatial distribution pattern. Cluster 1 includes only individuals captured in far traps. Cluster 2 includes all individuals from near traps and some individuals from far traps. Although there is a large overlapping in wing size between these clusters, extreme phenotypes are clearly differentiated. Taken as a whole the results support the hypothesis that individuals with larger wings in average are able to disperse farther than those with smaller wings. It is suggested that modifying rearing conditions and selecting for larger winged individuals would improve the efficiency of SIT as a result of an expected increase in dispersion ability of released insects(póster)