Search

The representatives of the Afrotropical hover fly genus Senaspis Macquart (Diptera) are revised. In total, ten species are recognized. Senaspis apophysata (Bezzi) is herewith placed as junior synonym of S. flaviceps Macquart, S. livida (Bezzi) is herewith placed as junior synonym of S. dentipes (Macquart) and S. griseifacies (Bezzi) is herewith placed as junior synonym of S. haemorrhoa (Gerstaecker). All species are redescribed and an identification key is provided. DNA barcoding analysis (7 species, 64 barcodes) showed that the technique can be used to unambiguously identify the species. The relationships among the different Senaspis species are discussed based on morphological and DNA data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The five-spotted fruit fly, Ceratitis quinaria (Bezzi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is distributed in parts of eastern and western Africa, northern Africa and southern Africa (including South Africa). The species also occurs outside of Africa, in Yemen. The host range of C. quinaria is narrow, with Mangifera indica L. being the main host of commercial importance. Ceratitis quinaria was claimed to be associated with citrus in Sudan although this claim was never substantiated and there has never been any confirmed reared record of C. quinaria on citrus despite numerous surveys of citrus across Africa. In order to verify the type of association that C. quinaria has with citrus, field surveys were carried out in South Africa to determine the distribution and seasonal occurrence of C. quinaria in commercial citrus orchards and the possible natural infestation of citrus by this species. Surveys on distribution of C. quinaria across SouthAfrica were carried out in 1999 and 2000 by trapping with Ceratitislure (containing protein hydrolysate and ß-caryophyllene). The seasonal occurrence of C. quinaria in the northern areas of South Africa was determined over two years between 2015 and 2017 by trapping with Enriched Ginger Oil (EGO), a male lure containing a-copaene. In the same trapping period, citrus and other fruit were sampled to determine infestation by C. quinaria. Additionally between 2009 and 2018, citrus fruit was sampled from the trees and ground in other commercial and non-commercial areas in the north of South Africa. All fruit samples collected were incubated for at least five weeks to allow rearing of flies to the pupal and adult stages. Trapping surveys conducted between 1999 and 2000 showed the presence of C. quinaria only in the northern areas of South Africa. Catches of C. quinaria males in EGO-baited traps were low in commercial citrus orchards (peak of catches being lower than 0.05 flies/trap/day). Catches of C. quinaria were mainly recorded outside of the citrus ripening period. No C. quinaria was reared from any of the citrus fruit sampled, even in those areas where the presence of the species was demonstrated by catches in EGO-baited traps. The fruit surveys therefore demonstrated the absence of natural infestation of citrus with C. quinaria in South Africa and supported existing biological information that citrus is not a host for C. quinaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The genus Dacus Fabricius includes economically important pest fruit flies distributed in the Afrotropical and Indo-Australian regions. Two recent revisions based on morphological characters proposed new and partially discordant classifications synonymizing/revalidating several subgeneric names and forming species groups. Regardless these efforts, the phylogenetic relationships among Dacus species remained largely unresolved mainly because of the difficulties in assigning homologous character states. Therefore we investigated the phylogeny of African Dacus by sequencing 71 representatives of 32 species at two mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and one nuclear (period) gene fragments. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred through Bayesian and Maximum Parsimony methods and hypotheses about the monophyly of Dacus subgenera were tested by Shimodaira–Hasegawa tests. The congruence tests and the analyses of the single gene fragments revealed that the nuclear gene supports similar conclusions as the two mitochondrial genes. Levels of intra- and inter-specific differentiation of Dacus species were highly variable and, in some cases, largely overlapping. The analyses of the concatenated dataset resolved two major bootstrap-supported groups as well as a number of well-supported clades and subclades that often comprised representatives of different subgenera. Additionally, specimens of Dacus humeralis from Eastern and Western African localities formed separate clades, suggesting cryptic differentiation within this taxon. The comparisons between the molecular phylogeny and the morphological classification revealed a number of discrepancies and, in the vast majority of cases, the molecular data were not compatible with the monophyly of the currently recognised subgenera. Conversely, the molecular data showed that Apocynaceae feeders are a monophyletic sister group of species feeding on both Cucurbitaceae and Passifloraceae (these latter being also monophyletic). These results show a clear association between the molecular phylogeny of African Dacus and the evolution of host plant choice and provide a basis towards a more congruent taxonomy of this genus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Mitochondrial phylogeny supported the subgeneric monophyly except for Pterandrus. • Mitochondrial data failed to distinguish four species within Ceratitis FARQ complex. • The genome-wide SNPs tree fully resolved phylogenetic relationships for this complex. • Gene flow was detected from C. quilicii to C. fasciventris. The Ceratitis FARQ complex (formerly FAR complex) includes four frugivorous tephritids, Ceratitis fasciventris , C. anonae , C. rosa and C. quilicii , the latter two causing important agricultural losses in Africa. Although FARQ species can be identified on the basis of subtle morphological differences, they cannot be resolved as monophyletic when trying phylogenetic tree reconstructions based on mitochondrial or nuclear gene fragments except for microsatellites. In this study, we used mitogenome and genome-wide SNPs to investigate the phylogenetic relationship within the complex as well as between all four Ceratitis subgenera. The analysis of 13 species supported the monophyly of the Ceratitis subgenera Ceratitis , Ceratalaspis , Pardalaspis , and recovered Pterandrus as paraphyletic but could not properly resolve species within the FARQ complex. Conversely, gene and species tree reconstructions based on 785,484 genome-wide SNPs could consistently resolve the FARQ taxa and provide insights into their phylogenetic relationships. Gene flow was detected by TreeMix analysis from C. quilicii to C. fasciventris , suggesting the existence of introgression events in the FARQ complex. Our results suggest that genome-wide SNPs represent a suitable tool for the molecular diagnosis of FARQ species and could possibly be used to develop rapid diagnostic methods or to trace the origins of intercepted samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the isolation and characterization of 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci from the recently discovered fruit fly pest, Bactrocera invadens. The polymorphism of these loci was tested in individual flies from two natural populations (Sri Lanka and Democratic Republic of Congo). Allele number per locus ranged from three to 15 and eight loci displayed a polymorphic information content greater than 0.5. These microsatellite loci provide useful markers for studies of population dynamics and invasion history of this pest species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of the Solanum fruit fly, Bactrocera latifrons, in Africa is reported for the first time, based on trapped and reared specimens in Tanzania. Two new host records, Solanum aethiopicum and Solanum macrocarpon, are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]