Oviposition preference and offspring performance of the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis and guava fruit fly B.correcta (Diptera: Tephritidae) on six host fruits

The host selection and adaptation of phytophagous insects is a key issue in unravelling the interactions between plants and insects during their co-evolution. In this paper, we report on the oviposition preference and offspring performance of two polyphagous fruit flies, Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera correcta on six different host fruits, guava, banana, papaya, orange, tomato and carambola. Adult oviposition preference was tested by exposing adults to intact host fruit and by placing sliced fruit, to release the host odor, in egg collectors. The fecundity on each host was investigated. In feeding tests, parameters, such as larval and pupal development, and survival, were used to evaluate suitability of the feeding fruit fly to the host fruit. Furthermore, the oviposition preferences and offspring performances between B. dorsalis and B. correeta were similar in certain aspects, but not all, which indicates that the host ecological niches of the two fruit flies overlap to a certain degree.