Insect Pests of Fruit, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops (2+1)

2. Peach fruit fly

2. Peach fruit fly - Bactrocera (= Dacus) zonatus Saund (Tephritidae: Diptera)

Damage

• The maggot feeds on the pulp of fruits causing rotting and dropping of fruits.
Bionomics

• The adult fly is small, reddish brown in the yellow cross bands on the abdomen.
• The female lays white cylindrical eggs on the skin of a fruit in masses of 2-9.
• The fecundity is about 137 eggs per female.
• The egg period is 2-4 days. The maggot is dirty white, apodous and elongated measuring 1 cm in length.
• The larval period is 4-16 days. The maggot come out from the rotting fruit and pupates in the soil at a depth of 25.4 -76.2 mm.
• The pupal period last for 7 days.
• The life cycle is completed in 13-27 days.