Sexual competitiveness of fertile and sterile, wild and mass‐reared males of Anastrepha obliqua

Abstract

Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae), commonly known as the West Indies fruit fly, is a pest species of mango, plum (both Anacardiaceae), and other commercial crops in various countries in the Neotropics, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean islands. Currently, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is used to control this pest. Here, the sexual competitiveness of mass-reared sterile A. obliqua males was evaluated against wild males in field cages. In the first experiment, fertile mass-reared males had similar sexual performance as fertile wild males reared on mango and tropical plum. In the second experiment, sterile mass-reared males had better sexual performance than sterile wild males recovered from mango and tropical plum. In the third experiment, fertile wild males recovered from mango had better sexual performance than sterile mass-reared males. The relative sterility index (RSI) was 0.32, indicating low acceptance of sterile males by wild females. The induced sterility index estimated by Fried's test produced a coefficient of 0.4, indicating that irradiation affected the sexual performance of the mass-reared males, which had reduced sexual performance compared to wild males. We discuss our results in the context of mass-rearing and sterilization as part of the SIT programs used to control A. obliqua.

Mass-Rearing of Drosophila suzukii for Sterile Insect Technique Application: Evaluation of Two Oviposition Systems

“…In this study, the quality of the flies produced with the two methods was assessed. In tephritid fruit flies as well as in other insect species, mass-rearing conditions often compromise the quality of adults, e.g., damaged wings or shortened lifespan, reducing the performance of males after release in the field [52]. Our results showed that flies produced using the wax panel system were of better quality with regards to adult emergence and flight ability compared with the netted system.…”

First micro‐transcriptome of the third instar larvae of Anastrepha obliqua and its association with polyphagia

“…Due to its economic impact and its ability to be polyphagous, A . obliqua has been widely studied, and information about its distribution on the American continent (Santos et al, 2019), intraspecific genetic variation and population structure (Martins de Almeida et al, 2019; Passos et al, 2018; Ruiz‐Arce et al, 2019; Velasco‐Cuervo et al, 2019), ecological interactions (Campanini et al, 2017; Mesquita et al, 2018; da Vargas et al, 2019), reproductive behaviours associated with the host plant (Hernández et al, 2019), formation of interspecific hybrids (Díaz et al, 2018; Rull et al, 2018) and composition of associated microbiota (Gallo‐Franco & Toro‐Perea, 2020; Ventura et al, 2018) has been obtained; in addition, mechanisms to control this pest, such as using chemical attractants, the sterile insect technique (Gallardo‐Ortiz et al, 2018b, 2018a) or biological control (Cancino et al, 2019; Murillo et al, 2019), have also been studied. All these works were conducted to understand the biology of this species and address the problem it represents for commercial crops.…”

Oviposition of Anastrepha oblicua (Macquart, 1835) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in fruits of Spondias purpurea L. (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae)

“…Por otro lado, la presencia de esta especie en huertas de mango son motivo de estricta cuarentena por parte de Estados Unidos de América (Aphis, 1994). Debido a su impacto económico y su capacidad de ser polífaga, A. obliqua ha sido ampliamente estudiada, y hay datos sobre su distribución en el continente americano (Santos et al, 2019), variación genética intraespecífica y estructura poblacional (Martins de Almeida et al, 2019;Passos et al, 2018;Ruiz-Arce et al, 2019;Velasco-Cuervo et al, 2019), interacciones ecológicas (Campanini et al, 2017;Mesquita et al, 2018;da Vargas et al, 2019), comportamientos reproductivos asociados a la planta hospedera (Hernández et al, 2019); mecanismos para el control de esta plaga, como el uso de atrayentes químicos, la técnica del insecto estéril (Gallardo-Ortiz et al, 2018b, 2018a o el control biológico (Cancino et al 2019;Murillo et al, 2019). La comprensión sobre la ecología y el comportamiento de esta especie en Panamá está supeditada en muchas ocasiones a informaciones externas, por ello, es importante reportar sucesos de biología básica para un mayor entendimiento de nuestro entorno y de esa forma buscar alternativas ecológicas para el control de especies como esta.…”