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Agriculture is one of the major farming activities, representing 32% of the gross domestic product of Madagascar and 74.3% of the population is involved in this activity. Fruit flies of the Tephritidae family are considered as the most destructive pests for agriculture in the country, nevertheless, few data exist on host plants and distribution of those pests. In the present study, we address those questions by conducting a large survey between November 2016 and July 2018 across the six agroecological regions of Madagascar. Fruit and vegetable were sampled from 198 plant species (wild and cultivated) and represented 37,965 fruits from all regions of Madagascar. The infestation index ranged from 0.06 to 538.46 pupae/kg, the infestation percentage was up to 54.84% in some samples, 63 plant species were considered as host of Tephritidae. Twelve fruit fly species were identified, seven of which were previously described as endemic, five species could be considered as widespread (altitudinal gradients between 1 and 1634 m asl) and major pests in Madagascar: Ceratitis malgassa (23 plant species from 12 families), Neoceratitis cyanescens (16 plant species from one family), Bactrocera dorsalis (18 plant species from 12 families), Dacus demmerezi (ten plant species from one family), Dacus vertebratus (six species from one family). Those results are of importance for implementation of control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten economically important species belonging to the Tephritidae have been recorded in Union of the Comoros (an island nation off the coast of East Africa). Little is known about the distribution of these species and how they are affected by climatic factors in the Comoros archipelago. The main objectives of this study were to characterize: (i) the population dynamics of tephritid fruit flies in relation to season and host fruit availability and (ii) the geographic distribution of tephritids in relation to temperature and rainfall. The study was conducted during 2 years at 11 sites on three islands (Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli) in the archipelago. The site elevations ranged from 55 to 885 m a.s.l. At each site, flies were collected weekly in eight traps (four different lures, each replicated twice). Fruit phenology was also recorded weekly. The dominant tephritid species detected was the invasive Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel followed by Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann. Tephritid species were generally more abundant during the hot and rainy seasons than during the cold and dry seasons. Bactrocera dorsalis numbers were higher on Grande Comore than on the two other islands. On Anjouan and Mohéli, B. dorsalis numbers were very low in 2014 but sharply increased in 2015, suggesting a recent invasion of these islands. Abundances were significantly related to the fruiting of mango, strawberry guava, and guava for B. dorsalis and to the fruiting of mango, guava, and mandarin for C. capitata. Bactrocera dorsalis was more abundant in hot and humid low-altitude areas, while C. capitata was more abundant in dry medium-altitude areas, suggesting the occurrence of climatic niche partitioning between the two species. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]