Identification of Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tepdhritidae) and Their Host Range and Attractants in the River Nile State

Abstract

This work was carried out at Shendi, Elzidab, Elkitiab and Elbawga areas (the River Nile State) during May to July 2010. The objectives of the study were to identify the species of the fruit flies and their host range. Field and laboratory studies were undertaken. Pheromone traps and food bait traps were used for detection and monitoring of fruit flies. The results indicated that fruit fly species found in the study areas were the Asian fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens Drew), mango fruit fly (Ceratitis cosyra Walker) and Mediterranean fruit fly( Ceratitis capitata Wiedmann). Bactrocera invadens was the dominant species in the study areas and showed significant difference in its numbers. The three species of fruit flies were found on mango, guava as hosts. Mango recorded more fruit flies than guava. No fruit fly was recorded on the other 8 host plants (orange, grapefruit, banana, watermelon, snake cucumber, tomato, hot pepper and sweet pepper). Shendi area showed significant difference as compared to the other three areas (Elzidab, Elkitiab and Elbawga) for the total numbers of the three fruit flies recorded there. There were no significant differences between the latter three locations. Among the different fruit fly attractants used, methyl eugenol proved to be effective in trapping large numbers of Bactrocera invadens males, while protein hydrolysate showed no acceptable performance in capturing the different types of fruit flies. There were highly significance differences between attractants