Anastrepha serpentina (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is sporadically captured in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Although its preferred hosts are in the Sapotaceae family, several varieties of Citrus, including grapefruit and oranges are listed as alternate hosts. Although Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), is known to be a major pest of Citrus, doubt exists as to the status of Citrus as a breeding host for A. serpentirva. To evaluate the host status of commercial Citrus for A. serpentina we compared oviposition and development with that of A. ladens under laboratory conditions with 'Rio Red' grapefruit (Citrus parndisi MacFayden) and 'Valencia' oranges [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck] in different stages of maturity. Both fly species oviposited in early season fruit in which the eggs and larvae died in the fruit albedo. Survival of either species to the adult stage occurred in later season grapefruit. In oranges, no A. seryentina larvae survived compared with 150 A. ludens surviving to adults. Survival on both Citrus species was much lower for A. serpentina, only ≃5% of eggs eclosed into larvae in grapefruit compared with ≃50% for A. ludens. In oranges ≃16% of A. serpentina eggs eclosed compared with ≃76% for A. ludens. In grapefruit, only one fourth as many A. serpentina larvae survived to the adult stage compared with A. ludens. Additional experiments were performed in a greenhouse on small, caged trees of la coma (Sideroxylon celastrinum H.B.K.), a Texas species of Sapotaceae. The A. serpentina females readily oviposited into these berries and normal adults emerged. The present low incidence of the adults, coupled with the high mortality during development of the larvae, suggests that Texas citrus is unlikely to support a breeding population of A. serpentina.

EXPLOR_STEP=$WICRI_ROOT/Wicri/Bois/explor/OrangerV1/Data/Main/Exploration

HfdSelect -h $EXPLOR_STEP/biblio.hfd -nk 001947 | SxmlIndent | more

HfdSelect -h $EXPLOR_AREA/Data/Main/Exploration/biblio.hfd -nk 001947 | SxmlIndent | more

{{Explor lien
   |wiki=    Wicri/Bois
   |area=    OrangerV1
   |flux=    Main
   |étape=   Exploration
   |type=    RBID
   |clé=     Pascal:11-0203953
   |texte=   Host Status of Grapefruit and Valencia Oranges for Anastrepha serpentina and Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae)
}}