Study of Ceratitis capitata and Lonchaea aristella on fig trees.

page editors note: The species refferred to here as Lonchaea aristella is almost certainly Silba adipata. A study was carried out on the two main pests of the fig tree, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Lonchaea aristella (Diptera: Lonchaeidae) for 3 years (2002, 2003 and 2004). The trials took lace in an orchard in the Agricultural Experimental Station, in Tavira, Portugal. In this orchard there are 200 trees, 100 of the cultivar Lampa Preta and 100 of the cultivar Bêbera Branca, occupying an area of 2000 m2. The population density of both pests was determined, using Tephri traps supplemented with alimentary attractants. For monitoring and control of C. capitata, 10 Tephri traps with triple alimentary attractant (putrescine, trimethylamine and ammonium acetate) and an insecticide tablet (dichlorvos) were placed in each cultivar. For monitoring and control of L. aristella, eight Tephri traps were placed in each cultivar, four with triple alimentary attractant and an insecticide tablet and four with protein hydrolysate and water with Teepol. All the traps also contained four small branches (≈3 cm long) of fig tree to increase the attractivity of the black fig fly. The traps used in this study were placed at random in order to cover all the orchard area. The trapped insects were counted weekly. Results showed that L. aristella was present in very low numbers (a total of 5 in both cultivars) and only in the last 2 years. The number of adults of C. capitata captured varied from 1-46 during June to a maximum of 424 in September 2004 and mainly in the cultivar Bêbera Branca. In both pests, the sex-ratio showed that there were more females than males in the populations of these insects. It was also verified that, for both the studied pests, the most efficient traps were the ones that contained protein hydrolysate, fig branches and water with Teepol