© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Medfly (Ceratitis capitata) Biology and control Spain MODULE C16

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Index 1.Taxonomy 2. Importance as pests 3. Distribution 4. Life cycle 5. Monitoring 6. Control

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Order Diptera. Family Tephritidae Ceratitis capitata Bactrocera oleae Rhagoletis cerasi Taxonomy

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Latin name Common name Distri- bution Host species Bactrocera oleae Olive fruit flyMediterra- nean region Olive Ceratitis capitata Mediterranean fruit fly Mediterra- nean region More than 250 Rhagoletis cerasi European cherry fruit fly Central. Mediterra- nean region Cherry Most important species in Europe

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Attack high value crops (fruit crops) Direct injury to the fruits Fruit about to ripen Larvae live inside the fruit Introduced pests in many regions (by man) Quarantine species Importance as pests

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY (2003) Distribution

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 1: Overwintering Polyphagous and multivoltine species, whose development is mainly driven by temperature No evidence of diapause Overwinters in the ground as pupa within a puparium

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 2: Adult emergence

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 3: Adults male seta female ovipositor

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 4: Adult emergence and longevity Peak adult emergence takes place in the early morning Adults need food: honeydew, nitrogen sources The post-emergence pre-maturation period of the females is short: 2 –3 days Adult survival in the field doest not exceed probably 2 – 3 months

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY The adults do not migrate readily after emergence Dispersion distances by flight depends on fruit availability Few hundreds meters per week when available Long distances (both mature and immature females) when not available Life cycle 5: Adult dispersion

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 6: Oviposition Females need T > 16ºC 1 – 10 eggs / oviposition hole 300 eggs (as many as 800) during lifetime Eggs continuously produced Under the skin of fruit which is just beginning to ripen Several females can lay eggs on the same fruit Oviposition hole difficult to detect female ovipositor

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Life cycle 7: Egg, larva and damage

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Monitoring 1: Summary of methods 1. Trap types () McPhail () Tephri Trap 2. Lure types () Liquid: Trimedlure () Solid: trimetilamine, putrescine & ammonium acetate () Plant volatiles 3. Economic threshold () 1 adult per trap per day 4. Fruit sampling

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Monitoring 2: Tephri traps

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Monitoring 3: an example trimetilamine, putrescine & ammonium acetate female male No. catches / day

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Control 1: chemical control Chemical control Few insecticides available (OPs, pyrethroids, spinosad), even less in Integrated Fruit Production Safe to harvest intervals Full cover sprays Aerial treatments (against IFP concept) Bait sprays Mass trapping Attract and sterilize Sterile Insect Technique AREAWIDE MANAGEMENT

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Control 2: mass trapping Based on the use of the same traps and lures than for monitoring 50 – 80 traps / ha distributed across the orchard Traps placed 4 – 6 weeks before harvest Traps may be distributed in all the orchard, if it is small, or only in its perimeter, if it is big

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Control 3: attract and kill Plant extracts + hydrolyzed protein+ insecticide 400 units / ha Units placed 4 – 6 weeks before harvest 4 months of duration

© ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY © ENDURE, February 2007 FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY Control 4: attract and sterilize Attractants + phagostimulants +lufenuron 24 units/ ha 1,5 m high, south side, before 1 st generation Placed only once