USDA compendium of fruit fly host information (CoFFHI)

Authors: LIQUIDO, NICANOR - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); McQuate, Grant; SUITER, KARL - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Fruit Flies of Economic Importance International Symposium
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/11/2016
Publication Date: 1/24/2017
Citation: Liquido, N.J., Mcquate, G.T., Suiter, K. 2017. Medhost: An Encyclopedic bibliography of the host plants of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Fruit Flies of Economic Importance International Symposium.

Interpretive Summary: Tephritid fruit flies are serious agricultural pests. Knowledge of what fruits and vegetables can be infested by different fruit fly species is needed to develop quarantine protocols to prevent the introduction of these fruit fly species in imported or exported fruits and vegetables, thereby facilitating crop importation/exportation. To provide this needed knowledge, we began development of an interactive compendium of the host plants of economically significant fruit fly species, beginning with the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), Ceratitis capitata, followed by focus on other fruit fly species of economic importance. An initial step in the development of the compendium was to acquire all pertinent literature worldwide through the use of searchable databases, e.g., Agricola, CAB Abstracts, and Scopus, accessible through DigiTop, USDA’s digital desktop library. Additionally, pertinent data were obtained from searches of the USDA-APHIS pest interception data bases. Retrieved publications or references were classified as providing field infestation data, laboratory infestation data, or as just listing a fruit or vegetable as a host without providing any supporting data. For field and laboratory infestation data, a succinct summary was prepared. A searchable online host plant database has been updated for Mediterranean fruit fly. The updated version, MEDHOST 2.0, available online at http://medhostv2.cphst.org/, has documentation for 456 plant species that are reported as host plants of Medfly. The recorded host plants of Medfly belong to 77 families. These results were derived from over 350 worldwide publications, as well as from over 3,000 interception records of fruits and vegetables infested by Medfly. We are now in the process of expanding on the Medfly host plant database so that the database will cover the status of fruits and vegetables as suitable host plants of additional fruit fly species of economic importance, with special emphasis on fruit fly species belonging to the genera Anastrepha, Bactrocera, Ceratitis, and Dacus. This new online accessible, searchable, multi-species database, which will provide interactive summaries of world literature on the host status of fruits and vegetables, will be referred to as the Compendium of Fruit Fly Host Information (CoFFHI). This compendium will be an aid to regulatory officials to establish quarantine systems that will minimize the risk of introduction of these selected fruit fly species in imported or exported fruits and vegetables.

Technical Abstract: Background: Tephritid fruit flies are serious agricultural pests. Knowledge of the host status of different fruits and vegetables is needed in support of the development of systems approaches to permit crop exports as well as to readily permit quarantine regulatory officials to check on the risk of introduction of these fruit fly species in imported or exported fruits and vegetables. To provide this needed knowledge, we began development of an interactive compendium of the host plants of economically significant fruit fly species, beginning with the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, followed by focus on other fruit fly species of economic importance. Methods: We acquired all pertinent literature worldwide through the use of searchable databases, e.g., Agricola, CAB Abstracts, and Scopus, accessible through DigiTop, USDA’s digital desktop library. Additionally, pertinent data were obtained from searches of the USDA-APHIS pest interception data bases. Retrieved publications or references were classified as providing field infestation data, laboratory infestation data, or as just listing a fruit or vegetable as a host without providing any supporting data. For field and laboratory infestation data, a succinct summary was prepared. Results: MEDHOST 2.0 has documentation for 456 plant species that are reported as host plants of medfly, and is available online at http://medhostv2.cphst.org/. The recorded host plants of medfly belong to 77 families. These results were derived from over 350 worldwide publications, as well as from over 3,000 interception records of fruits and vegetables infested by medfly. These summaries have been incorporated into an open access, online-searchable database. Conclusions: MEDHOST Version 2.0 delivers an online-accessible, encyclopedic host database for medfly. MEDHOST will be integrated to the Compendium of Fruit Fly Host Information (CoFFHI). Once integration is complete, CoFFHI will provide interactive summaries of world literature pertaining to the status of fruits and vegetables as suitable host plants of fruit flies, with special emphasis to economically significant species belonging to the genera Anastrepha, Bactrocera, Ceratitis, and Dacus. Summaries of infestation of fruits and vegetables by different species of fruit flies will be useful in developing risk mitigation options, such as commodity quarantine treatment based on Probit 9 level of efficacy, treatment with level of efficacy lower than Probit 9, or even integrated systems approaches. The fruit fly host information database will allow regulatory officials to assess the risk of introduction of these selected fruit fly species in imported or exported fruits and vegetables.