CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

*shared first authorsThenutritional quality of the host is a factor that affects life-history traits ofinsects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different hostspecies and varieties on some life-history traits of Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann. Mature fruits from 20 plants of peach[Prunus persica (L.) Batsch], plum (Prunus domestica L.) and fig (Ficus carica L.) were taken following a stratifiedrandom sampling design in one orchard in San Juan, Argentina. Variables evaluatedwere pupal width, length and weight; proportion of females and males emerged, adultlength and weight and wingspan. The reproductive traits evaluated were age atsexual maturity (age at which males emitted pheromone and females accepted tomate), latency and copula duration. Host species influenced several variables. Significantdifferences were found between host species in pupal weight, body length offemales and males, males? weight and wingspan of females (p<0.001). Thenumber of males emerged from peach and fig were 1.2 and 1.6 fold higher thanfemales (p=0.002 and p=0.0009, respectively). Males emerged from peach and figreached sexual maturity earlier than males from plum (p=0.0002). In addition, peachvariety also had an impact; males emerged from nectarines were the first to beginemitting pheromone (p<0.0001). Femalesfrom common peach reached sexual maturity (i.e. copulated) significantly earlierthan females from flat peach (p<0.001). Latency and copula duration did notshow differences between peach varieties. It is concludedthat C. capitata shows plasticity in its life-history traits due to hostspecies and varieties. The impact of such variations is important in thecontext of population dynamics and pest management. Keywords: medfly, life history traits, hosts. Session:Biology, Ecology,Behavior and Physiology

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