Adaptation to and small-scale rearing of invasive fruit fly Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) on artificial diet

Abstract

Larval rearing of Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White (Diptera: Tephritidae) on artificial diet is described. The adaptation process for this insect, when moved from whole mango, Mangifera indica L., fruit rearing to artificial diet based on wheat bran, took between three and five generations to reach the plateau of quality control parameters observed for rearing the insect on whole mango fruit. Small-scale rearing on wheat, Triticum aestivum L.-, or carrot, Daucus corata-based diet revealed significantly higher pupal recovery for flies reared on the wheat-based artificial diet (68.8%) compared with the carrot-based diet (58.2%). Weekly production of puparia was 3,966.8 on wheat- and 3,012.1 on carrot-based diet. Other quality control parameters, including pupal weight, adult emergence, flight ability, fecundity, and fertility did not differ significantly between the two artificial rearing media tested. © 2007 Entomological Society of America.