Species Composition of Fruit Flies and their Dynamics in Mango Ecosystem

Studies on species composition of fruit flies in mango ecosystem was conducted during 2012 cropping season at Horticulture Garden, S. V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The traps were baited with three different lures viz., methyl eugenol, cue lure and crude extract from ocimum leaves. The results indicated that, highest number of fruit flies were captured in methyl eugenol baited traps, followed by cue lure and ocimum leaf extract. A total of 10, 018 flies were trapped from 20th standard week (7–13, May, 2012) to 35th week (27-2, Sept, 2012). Highest number of 987 and 985 flies was trapped during 29th and 30th standard weeks. Eleven species of fruitflies, Bactrocera dorsalis, B. zonata, B. correcta, B. affinis, B. invadens, B. cucurbitae, B. tau, B. duplicate, B. nigrofemoralis, B. neonigrotibialis and Dacus ramanii were captured in the traps with the three types of lures. Among the eleven species observed, B. dorsalis was the predominant species with 40.7 per cent followed by B. zonata (14.5%), B.cucurbitae (12.7%) B.correcta (8.6%). The other species B. invadens (4.1%), B. nigrofemoralis (3.2%), B. neonigrotibialis (2.3%), B. tau (1.4%) and D. ramanii (0.4%) were captured at a very low proportion. Among the three types of lures, methyl eugenol lures were more effective compared to cue lure and crude ocimum leaf extract, where B. dorsalis complex fruit flies are more dominant in the mango ecosystem.