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Title: Tephritoid flies (Diptera, Tephritoidea) and their plant hosts from the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil

Author
item GARCIA, F.R. - Universidade Federal De Pelotas
item ZUCCHI, R. - Universidad De Sao Paulo
item Norrbom, Allen

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2011
Publication Date: 6/15/2011
Citation: Garcia, F.M., Zucchi, R.A., Norrbom, A.L. 2011. Tephritoid flies (Diptera, Tephritoidea) and their plant hosts from the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Florida Entomologist. 94:151-157.

Interpretive Summary: True fruit flies and their relatives include numerous major agricultural pests throughout the world. They attach fruits and vegetables, including major commercial crops such as mango, apple and citrus, although the majority of species that are pests do not occur in North America. To prevent their entry into the United States, detailed knowledge is needed concerning which species are pests, where they occur, and which plant species they attack. In this paper, the results of a survey in the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil are reported, including new fly and host plant records and others documenting the fly/host relationship in this part of Brazil. The information provided will be valuable to regulatory agencies such as APHIS-PPQ to prevent the spread of pest species as well as scientists studying the biology and control of these species.

Technical Abstract: A total of 12,540 ripe fruits belonging to 46 species and 25 plant families were sampled either from the trees or from the ground in six municipalities in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil between 2002 and 2006 in order to determine which fruit fly species developed on various host plants. Each fruit was weighed and placed into a plastic flask filled with sterilized sand 7 cm deep, and the opening of the flask was covered with voile. The flasks were kept under controlled conditions (25 ± 3 °C, 70 ± 10% RH and 12h photophase). After seven days, the pupae were sifted from the sand and transferred to Petri dishes lined with filter paper. Twenty-one species of Tephritoidea were recovered consisting of 13 species of Tephritidae, 6 of Lonchaeidae, and 2 of Ulidiidae. We present new host records for some species of fruit flies.