Mediterranean fruit fly on Mimusops zeyheri indigenous to South Africa: a threat to the horticulture industry

BACKGROUND Claims abound that the Transvaal red milkwood, Mimusops zeyheri, indigenous to areas with tropical and subtropical commercial fruit trees and fruiting vegetables in South Africa, is relatively pest free owing to its copious concentrations of latex in the above‐ground organs. On account of observed fruit fly damage symptoms, a study was conducted to determine whether M. zeyheri was a host to the notorious quarantined Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata). RESULTS Fruit samples were kept for 16–21 days in plastic pots containing moist steam‐pasteurised growing medium with tops covered with a mesh sheath capable of retaining emerging flies. Microscopic diagnosis of the trapped flies suggested that the morphological characteristics were congruent with those of C. capitata, which was confirmed through cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene sequence alignment with a 100% bootstrap value and 99% confidence probability when compared with those from the National Centre for Biotechnology Information database. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that M. zeyheri is a host of C. capitata. Therefore, C. capitata from infestation reservoirs of M. zeyheri fruit trees could be a major threat to the tropical and subtropical fruit industries in South Africa owing to the fruit‐bearing nature of the new host. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry