Artificial Oviposition Sphere for Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Field Cages

Colored, polyethylene plastic balls were modified to serve as oviposition devices for a laboratory strain of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), in the laboratory and the field. In outdoor field cages, large balls (100 mm diameter) yielded significantly more eggs than small balls (25 mm diameter) for all four colors tested (black, red, yellow, and blue). Blue and yellow balls yielded fewer eggs than black or red balls for small and medium (50 mm diameter) sizes, whereas numbers oviposited in black, red, and yellow spheres were not significantly different for numbers laid in the large size. Twice as many eggs were laid into large balls when guava juice was used as an attractant as compared with water. Large black or red balls with guava juice gave roughly as many eggs as did ‘Golden Delicious’ apples, and three times as many eggs as did ‘Red Delicious’ apples. Laboratory flies oviposited three times as many eggs into large yellow balls with guava juice as did wild flies reared in fruit.