Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae): Suppression Efficiencies of Unisexual and Bisexual Sterilized Release Populations in Field Cages

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Male-only, female-only, and bisexual radiosterilized populations of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), were evaluated for competitiveness against control non-irradiated flies in screened field cages in Hawaii. Male-only and bisexual (1:1 sex ratio) sterile fly populations were equally efficient at suppressing production of viable eggs (competitiveness values of control versus non-irradiated flies were 0.56 and 0.69, respectively). Female-only populations were as efficient as male-only populations when the guava tree was kept relatively bare of foliage, but much less efficient when the tree was bushy. Sterile flies, particularly females, suppressed oviposition by interfering with normal females on fruit and contributed to higher mortality rates of non-irradiated flies. In general, sterile and normal females survived the 4-day field exposure significantly better than their male counterparts.

This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit: