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Competitive Interactions between Immature Stages of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) and Bactrocera tau (Walker) (Diptera: Tephritidae) under Laboratory Conditions

  • Ecology, Behavior and Bionomics
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Abstract

The melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), and the pumpkin fly, Bactrocera tau (Walker), are economically important pests that attack mainly cucurbitacean fruits. The two fruit fly species have similar natural distributions, host ranges, and population growth capacities. This study was designed to assess the asymmetrical competitions through resource exploitation between the larvae of B. cucurbitae and B. tau at different density levels and temperatures, and on different hosts by comparing the relative effects of interspecific and intraspecific interactions on four life history parameters: survival rate, puparial mass, puparial duration, and developmental duration. Our results showed that intraspecific and interspecific competitions occurred under some laboratory conditions, and B. cucurbitae took advantage over B. tau at the high-density level and at low and high temperatures on pumpkin, bitter gourd, and bottle gourd when interspecific competition took place. Intraspecific and interspecific competitions mainly affected the puparial mass and the survival rate of the two fruit fly species but had no marked effect on the puparial duration or development duration.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Science & Technology Supported Project of China (2008BADA5B01) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30671394 and 30900945).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Lab for Biocontrol, Institute of Entomology, Sun Yat-Sen Univ, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    K Shen, B Wu, K An, J Liu & R Zhang

  2. Biotechnology and Germplasm Resources Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Provincial Key Lab of Agricultural Biotechnology, Kunming, People’s Republic of China

    J Hu & J Zhang

Authors
  1. K Shen
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  2. J Hu
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  3. B Wu
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  4. K An
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  5. J Zhang
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  6. J Liu
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  7. R Zhang
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Correspondence to R Zhang.

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Edited by Wesley AC Godoy – ESALQ/USP

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Shen, K., Hu, J., Wu, B. et al. Competitive Interactions between Immature Stages of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) and Bactrocera tau (Walker) (Diptera: Tephritidae) under Laboratory Conditions. Neotrop Entomol 43, 335–343 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-014-0224-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-014-0224-y

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