Abstract
The nutritional requirements for survival and reproduction of the adult olive fruit fly, Dacus oleae (Gmelin), were investigated using a basal chemically defined diet. For satisfactory survival the most important ingredient was sucrose. About 2 eggs were produced per female per day on a sucrose solution. Metabolites were transferred from larval to adult stages. Amino acids allowed a substantial increase in egg production only when minerals were present in the diets. The addition of vitamins increased fecundity on diets containing sucrose, amino acids, and minerals to 11–12 eggs/female per egg-laying day. The addition of cholesterol or RNA alone did not significantly affect egg production; when both were added fecundity was positively affected. For egg hatchability, the most important constituent was vitamins. Cholesterol increased fertility only when added to the more complete diets.

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