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Entomology Unit

Fruit flies

Improved Rearing Techniques for Fruit Flies

For some species of fruit fly a major bottleneck to the development of SIT technology is the inability to rear large numbers of good quality insects at a cost that is acceptable for an SIT programme. This constraint is particularly difficult to deal with in pest species which only feed on one host i.e. monophagous species.

Olive fruit fly egg production system

The olive fruit fly is a key monophagous pest of the olive crop worldwide and could be a good target for SIT. In the past, efficient and economical larval rearing of this species has always been a major obstacle to SIT development. The diet is expensive and larval survival can be low. New dietary components are being tested which may solve these problems. In the past, mass reared olive fruit flies were also shown to have a different mating time than wild insects. This will also need to be addressed during the development of improved rearing techniques.

Collecting A. fraterculus eggs

Anastrepha fraterculus has been identified as a good candidate for SIT application as it is an important pest in many countries in South America. Field cage studies carried out at the Unit have identified temporal differences in mating behaviour. R and D is currently being carried out on improving larval diet, egg collection technology and adult cage design.