Fruit flies and lance flies (Diptera: Tephritoidea) and their host plants in a conservation unit of the cerrado biome in Tocantins, Brazil

Abstract

Fruit flies (Tephritidae) and lance flies (Lonchaeidae) are specialized in exploring fruits as resource, and the native Angiospermae represent potential hosts for their frugivorous larvae. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of fruit fly and lance fly species with native host fruits in the Parque Estadual do Lajeado, Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil. The survey was carried out from May 2011 to Apr 2013, with sampling of fruits to obtain third instar larvae, pupae and adults. We sampled fruits of 18 plant species of which 7 were infested by fruit flies or lance flies, and from which emerged 888 adults of Neosilba spp. (Lonchaeidae), and 81 adults of Anastrepha (Tephritidae). Neosilba zadolicha emerged from fruit of Siparuna camporum, Dyospiros hispida, Annona coreacea, Mouriri pusa, Cheiloclinium cognatum and Salacia crassifolia. Neosilba bifida, N. glaberrima, and Neosilba n. sp.1, emerged from fruits of D. hispida. The species of Anastrepha obtained were: A. serpentina and A. nr. mucronota reared from S. crassifolia and C. cognatum fruits; A. obliqua from S. crassifolia, A. sororcula from Myrcia guianensis, A. turpiniae, and A. zenildae from M. pusa. Of the seven host fruit species, four were infested by Tephritidae, and six by Lonchaeidae. These are the first records for: A. sororcula in fruits of Myrcia guianensis, A. nr. mucronota in Salacia crassifolia and Cheiloclinium cognatum, A. serpentina in Cheiloclinium cognatum, and A. turpiniae and A. zenildae in Mouriri pusa. The associations of fruit flies and lance flies with host fruits is locally and temporally dependent on the flora, since the species of flies require available fruit species. In this survey we observed the highly polyphagous A. obliqua, that in this survey to colonize only one species of fruit.