Occurrence of Ceratitis capitata and Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) on Cultivated, Exotic Fruit Species in the Highland Valleys of Tucuman in Northwest Argentina

Fruits from 6 exotic, cultivated fruit species were collected in the Tafí and Calchaquí valleys between Jan 2000 and Jan 2002 to determine the occurrence of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) and the corresponding fruit infestation levels. The valleys are situated in the western semiarid highlands of Tucumán province (NW Argentina) and the altitude ranges from 1,800 to 2,014 m above sea level. The fruit species surveyed were Cydonia oblonga Miller, Malus domestica Borkh., Prunus armeniaca L., P. domestica L., P. persica (L.) Batsch, and Pyrus communis L. (Rosaceae). Out of a total of 2,129 puparia recovered from infested fruit, 2,112 (98.8%) were C. capitata and only 27 (1.2%) A. fraterculus. Ceratitis capitata was recovered from all fruit species and it was the dominant species. Anastrepha fraterculus was only recovered from C. oblonga, P. persica and P. domestica. All Prunus species and P. communis were the host plants that were infested most by C. capitata. The infestation data of C. oblonga, P. communis and M. domestica demonstrated that these 3 fruit species were acceptable host plants for C. capitata in Tucumán. This study provides the first record of both C. capitata and A. fraterculus infesting fruit species in semiarid highland valleys in Tucumán, and it also expands the altitudinal range of distribution of these two tephritid species to 2,014 m within the Tucumán province.