Location: Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research
Title: Temperature effects on oviposition by Rhagoletis indifferens (Diptera: Tephritidae) vary in different developmental stages of sweet cherryAuthor
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Submitted to: Environmental Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 12/22/2020 Publication Date: 2/1/2021 Citation: Yee, W.L. 2021. Temperature effects on oviposition by Rhagoletis indifferens (Diptera: Tephritidae) vary in different developmental stages of sweet cherry. Environmental Entomology. 50(3):514-522. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab003 Interpretive Summary: Western cherry fruit fly is a quarantine pest that attacks cherries at different stages of ripening, but the role temperature plays in egg laying responses to these stages remains unknown. Personnel at the USDA-ARS laboratory in Wapato, WA determined temperature effects on egg laying by flies in different stages of sweet cherry in the laboratory. It was found that the temperature at which egg laying was lowest did not depend on cherry stage while temperatures at which egg laying was highest did depend on cherry stage. Results are important in that they can form the basis for future studies designed to predict the likelihood of flies attacking cherries as a function of temperature and cherry stage, thus aiding fly control Technical Abstract: Fruit developmental stage affects oviposition responses by tephritid fruit flies, but the role temperature plays in these responses to different stages remains largely unknown. Here, temperature effects on oviposition rates of western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), in different stages of Bing sweet cherry (Prunus avium [L.] L.) were determined in no-choice experiments. Stage 1 (green), stage 2 (green-yellow to orange red), stage 3 (yellow-orange to red), and stage 4 cherries (red to burgundy) were exposed to flies at 15.6°C, 21.1°C, 26.7°C, and 32.2°C for 3 h and oviposition recorded. Oviposition was lower at 15.6°C than at all other test temperatures within all four cherry stages. Oviposition at 21.1°C was at least numerically lower than at 26.7°C and 32.2°C in all cherry stages. However, oviposition rates at 26.7°C and 32.2°C depended on cherry stage. Oviposition rates at 26.7°C and 32.2°C did not differ significantly in stage 3 cherries, but rates were significantly greater at 32.2°C than 26.7°C in stage 4 cherries. Thus, the temperature at which oviposition is lowest did not depend on cherry stage while temperatures at which it is highest did. Temperatures and cherry stage together rather than cherry stage alone may have selected for behaviors leading to oviposition responses in R. indifferens |
