Age‐related activity patterns are moderated by diet in Queensland fruit flies Bactrocera tryoni

Life‐history parameters and the fitness of tephritid flies are closely linked to diet. Studies of locomotor behaviour can provide insights to these links, although little is known about how locomotor behaviour is influenced by diet. In the present study, video recordings of Queensland fruit flies Bactrocera tryoni Froggatt (Diptera: Tephritidae) (‘Q‐flies’) that are maintained individually in cages are used to determine how diet affects the activity patterns (flight, walking, grooming, inactivity) of males and females at ages ranging from 4 to 30 days. The frequency and total duration of activities over 10‐min trials are affected by diet, age and sex. Supplementation of diet with hydrolysed yeast results in a higher frequency and duration of flight in flies of all ages and both sexes. The effect of diet on other activities varies with age. Q‐flies fed sugar only increase walking frequency steadily from 4 to 30 days post‐eclosion, whereas flies fed sugar + yeast have higher walking frequencies at 4 and 10 days than flies fed sugar only, although they then exhibit a sharp decline at 30 days post‐eclosion. The frequency and duration of inactivity remain consistent in flies fed sugar + yeast, whereas flies fed sugar only exhibit a marked increase in inactivity from 4 to 30 days post‐eclosion. Compared with older flies, 4 day‐old Q‐flies fed sugar only spend considerably more time grooming. The potential of activity monitoring as a quality control test for flies that are mass‐reared for use in sterile insect technique programmes is discussed.     

Capture of mass‐reared vs. wild‐like males of Ceratitis capitata (Dipt., Tephritidae) in trimedlure‐baited traps

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is widely used to suppress or eradicate infestations of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.), an insect whose broad polyphagy poses a serious threat to fruit and vegetable crops. The SIT involves the production, sterilization and release of sterile insects to obtain sterile male by wild female matings, thus yielding infertile eggs. Mass‐rearing over many generations is known to produce dramatic changes in the behaviour and life history of C. capitata. This study investigated the possibility that mass‐rearing also alters male response to trimedlure, a sex‐specific attractant widely used in detection and monitoring programmes. We compared captures of released males from a mass‐reared strain and a recently established colony of wild flies in trimedlure‐baited Jackson traps at three spatial scales – open field, large field enclosures (75 m²) and small field cages (7 m²) – in two separate years. In the first year, males were used independently of flight ability, while in the second year only males with demonstrated flight capability were used. Trap capture was scored 2 days after release for the open field and the large field enclosures but either 1 h or 1 day after release in the small field cages. The findings were consistent across these different experiments: wild‐like males were captured in significantly greater numbers than mass‐reared males in both years of study, except in the trials lasting 1 day in the small field cages where significantly more wild than mass‐reared males were captured in 1 year but not the other. These results are compared with other studies, and their implications for SIT are discussed.     

Mass‐rearing conditions do not affect responsiveness to sex pheromone and flight activity in sweetpotato weevils

For ensuring the effectiveness of sterile insect technique (SIT) programmes, maintaining the reproductive competitiveness and dispersal ability of mass‐reared sterile males is essential. Inadvertent selection is an important genetic process that frequently occurs during mass rearing to produce sterile males. We investigated the effect of mass‐rearing conditions on the responsiveness to sex pheromones and spontaneous flight activity of males of the sweetpotato weevil Cylas formicarius (Coleoptera: Brentidae). There were no significant differences in the responsiveness to sex pheromones and spontaneous flight activity between wild and mass‐reared strains. These results indicate that mass‐reared strains of C. formicarius might not cause serious problems for implementing SIT programmes.     

Pre-release feeding on yeast hydrolysate enhances sexual competitiveness of sterile male Queensland fruit flies in field cages

Recent laboratory studies of mass‐reared flies in small cages have found that periods of just 24‐ or 48‐h access to yeast hydrolysate can substantially enhance mating performance of mass‐reared male Queensland fruit flies, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae) (‘Q‐flies’). Using field cage tests that provide a better approximation of nature, we here investigated whether access to yeast hydrolysate for 48 h after adult emergence improves the ability of male and female mass‐reared, sterile Q‐flies to compete sexually with wild‐type flies that had been provided continuous access to yeast hydrolysate. Mating probability of sterile males was significantly increased by 48‐h access to yeast hydrolysate; sterile males provided 48‐h access to yeast hydrolysate had mating probability similar to that of wild males provided continuous access to yeast hydrolysate, whereas sterile males deprived of access to yeast hydrolysate had much lower mating probability. Unlike males, access to yeast hydrolysate for 48 h did not increase mating probability of sterile female Q‐flies. We instead found that wild females provided continuous access to yeast hydrolysate had higher mating probability than sterile females that did or did not have 48‐h access to yeast hydrolysate. This result raises the possibility that a bisexual Q‐fly strain might operate essentially as a male‐only release when the flies are given access to yeast hydrolysate during a 48‐h pre‐release holding period. Sterile males given access to yeast hydrolysate for 48 h mated significantly earlier in the evening than wild males and, as in other recent studies, this tendency was associated with an increased tendency to mate on the trees rather than the cage walls. There was no evidence of sexual isolation in this study, as wild and sterile mass‐reared flies showed no evidence of preferential mating with their own kind. Further studies are now needed to assess the potential for pre‐release access to yeast hydrolysate to improve sexual performance and longevity of sterile, mass‐reared, Q‐flies in the field.     

Laboratory adaptation reduces female mating resistance in the sweet potato weevil

Selection for genetic adaptation might occur whenever an animal colony is maintained in the laboratory. The laboratory adaptation of behavior such as foraging, dispersal ability, and mating competitiveness often causes difficulties in the maintenance of biological control agents and other beneficial organisms used in procedures such as the sterile insect technique (SIT). Sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius (Summers) (Coleoptera: Brentidae), is an important pest in sub‐tropical and tropical regions. An eradication program targeting C. formicarius using SIT was initiated in Japan with weevils being mass‐reared for 95 generations to obtain sufficient sterile males. The mass‐reared strain of C. formicarius exhibits weaker female resistance to male mating attempts compared with the wild strain. This could affect the success of SIT programs because mating persistence of mass‐reared males might be expected to decrease in response to weak female resistance. We show that high success of sperm transfer to mass‐reared females was due to weak female resistance to male mating attempts. However, the mating behavior of mass‐reared males did not change. In C. formicarius, the trait of male persistence to mate was not correlated with the female resistance traits. Our results suggest that mass‐rearing conditions do not have negative effects on the mating ability of the sterile males of this species, and thus that the current mass‐rearing procedures are suitable for production of sterile males for the weevil eradication program.     

Sexual development of wild and mass‐reared male Queensland fruit flies in response to natural food sources

Diet has a profound influence on the fitness of adult tephritid flies. Mass‐reared flies are provided yeast hydrolysate as a rich source of nutrition that supports rapid sexual development and mating success. In contrast, wild tephritid flies often live in environments where food may be hard to find, and these are the conditions that sexually immature mass‐reared sterile males encounter when released into the field during sterile insect technique campaigns. The effect of natural food sources (bat guano, bird droppings, citrus pollen, and wheat pollen) on the sexual development of adult mass‐reared fertile, mass‐reared sterile, and wild male Queensland fruit flies, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae), was determined by measuring ejaculatory apodeme size. Inclusion of yeast hydrolysate in the adult diet was associated with faster growth of the ejaculatory apodeme in comparison with all other diets. Effects of diet were far less pronounced in mass‐reared males, which may indicate reduced nutritional requirements, whereas the ejaculatory apodeme of wild males fed on natural sources of food or sucrose alone did not increase in size over the first 20 days of adult life.     

Quantity and safety vs. quality and performance: conflicting interests during mass rearing and transport affect the efficiency of sterile insect technique programs

The sterile insect technique (SIT) requires production of large quantities of sterile males able to successfully compete with wild males for wild females. During eradication of a pest population, the release of fertile insects or capture of non‐marked released flies can have deleterious effects and trigger costly control measures. These perceived risks encourage program managers to apply high radiation doses and high doses of marking dye. In addition, mass rearing factories are strategically located away from release areas to prevent escape of fertile individuals within eradicated areas, raising the need for lengthy transport. Such is the case for Anastrepha obliqua Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae) released in mango producing areas of Mexico under an SIT‐based eradication campaign. Here, we examined several standard quality‐control parameters for mass‐reared A. obliqua subjected to various time periods under hypoxia during transport, marked with different doses of fluorescent dye, and subjected to different radiation doses. Such factors were evaluated in isolation and in conjunction. Overall, long periods of hypoxia, high marking doses, and high radiation doses reduced the number of flying adults and increased the number of non‐emerged pupae. Some quality‐control parameters such as number of deformed adults, part‐emerged pupae, and non‐flying adults provided less informative guidance or redundant information of fly performance. Some tests such as mortality under stress and mating propensity in small cages were useless in detecting differences in quality among treatments for parameters evaluated during experiments. We discuss the quantity/safety‐quality/performance conflict during eradication using SIT, propose different strategies according to different stages during eradication (management, suppression, eradication, outbreaks in free areas), where males irradiated at low doses and marked with low doses of dye can be released during early suppression, and examine the pertinence of carrying out different quality‐control tests.     

Evaluation of yeasts in gel larval diet for Queensland fruit fly,Bactrocera tryoni

Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (“Q‐fly”), is Australia’s most economically important insect pest of horticultural and commercial crops especially in the eastern regions. The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been adopted as an environmentally benign and sustainable approach for management of Q‐fly outbreaks. High‐performance larval diets are required to produce the millions of flies needed each week for SIT. Yeast products contribute amino acids (protein) to fruit fly larval diets, as well as carbohydrate, fat and micronutrients, but there can be substantial variation in the nutritional composition and suitability of yeast products for use in larval diets. Gel larval diets have recently been developed for large‐scale rearing of Q‐fly for SIT, and composition of these diets requires optimization for both performance and cost, including choice of yeast products. We assessed performance of Q‐flies reared on gel larval diets that contained debittered brewer’s yeast (Lallemand LBI2240), hydrolysed yeast (Lallemand FNILS65), inactivated brewer’s yeast (Lallemand LBI2250) and inactivated torula yeast (Lallemand 2160‐50), including blends. Q‐flies performed poorly when reared on diets containing only or mostly hydrolysed yeast in terms of pupal number, pupal weight and percentage of fliers. Performance was also poor on diets containing high proportions of torula yeast. Overall, debittered brewer’s yeast is recommended as the best option for Q‐fly gel larval diet, as it is cheap, readily available, and produces flies with good performance in quality control assays. Inactivated brewer’s yeast produced flies of comparable quality with only a modest increase in cost and would also serve as an effective alternative.     

The effect of mass‐rearing on death‐feigning behaviour in the sweet potato weevil (Coleoptera: Brentidae)

The aim of our study was to examine the effect of mass‐rearing, in which there is no exposure to predators, on antipredator traits of insects for improving sterile insect technique programs. The duration of death‐feigning (antipredator behaviour) in sweet potato weevil Cylas formicarius (Summers) (Coleoptera: Brentidae) after mass‐rearing for 71 generations were compared with those in wild strain. There was no significant difference in the duration of death‐feigning between wild and mass‐reared strains. This indicated that the death‐feigning behaviour of mass‐reared strain was maintained for 71 generations even in the absence of predators. We discuss the reasons why death‐feigning behaviour is maintained after mass‐rearing.     

Disparity in sexual behaviour between wild and mass‐reared Mexican fruit flies

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is currently used to control Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae). However, mass‐rearing can alter the quality of released males. If males that are mass‐reared have behaviours different from those of their wild counterparts, then this may diminish the effectiveness of SIT. Questions remain as to whether wild females may be able to detect the male condition before, during and/or after copulation with a mass‐reared male. In the present study, copula duration, female remating, female fecundity and fertility of both mass‐reared and wild A. ludens are evaluated. Marked differences are found between mass‐reared and wild females. Specifically, mating latency is longer and copula duration is shorter for wild females compared with mass‐reared females. Importantly, there are no significant differences in mating latency, copula duration or remating probability between wild females paired with either mass‐reared or wild males. All mass‐reared females remate, whereas only approximately half of the wild females remate after first mating with either a wild or mass‐reared male. Fecundity of wild females mated to either wild or mass‐reared males is approximately one‐third lower than that of mass‐reared females, confirming that mass‐reared females may have been selected for high fecundity and are adapted to laboratory conditions. Fertility of females that mate with a wild male for only 10 min is not significantly different from that achieved via a full‐length copulation. By contrast, females mating with mass‐reared males need copulation durations of at least 40 min to achieve fertility comparable with that achieved via a full‐length copulation. The findings of the present study have important implications for A. ludens controlled through SIT and broaden our understanding on the copulatory and post‐copulatory behaviours between wild females and mass‐reared males.     

Wild bacterial probiotics fed to larvae of mass‐reared Queensland fruit fly [Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt)] do not impact long‐term survival,mate selection,or locomotor activity

Queensland fruit fly [Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), Diptera, Tephritidae] is the most devastating insect pest impacting Australian horticulture. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an important component of tephritid pest management programs. However, mass‐rearing and irradiation (to render insects sterile) may reduce the fitness and performance of the insect, including the ability of sterile males to successfully compete for wild females. Manipulation of the gut microbiome, including the supplementation with bacterial probiotics shows promise for enhancing the quality of mass‐reared sterile flies, however there are fewer published studies targeting the larval stage. In this study, we supplemented the larval stage of mass‐reared B. tryoni with bacterial probiotics. We tested several individual bacteria that had been previously isolated and characterized from the gut of wild B. tryoni larvae including Asaia sp., Enterobacter sp., Lactobacillus sp., Leuconostoc sp. We also tested a consortium of all four of these bacterial isolates. The fitness parameters tested included adult survival in field cages, laboratory mate selection of bacteria supplemented males by bacteria nonsupplemented females, and laboratory locomotor activity of adult flies. None of the bacterial probiotic treatments in the current study was significantly different to the control for field survival, mate selection or locomotor activity of adult B. tryoni, which agree with some of the other studies regarding bacterial probiotics fed to the larval stage of tephritids. Future work is needed to determine if feeding the same, and/or other probiotics to adults, as opposed to larvae can positively impact survival, mating performance, mating competitiveness and locomotor activity of B. tryoni. The bacterial group(s) and function of bacterial species that increase fitness and competitiveness is also of interest to tephritid mass‐rearing programs.     

苹果蠹蛾不育昆虫释放技术研究进展

不育昆虫释放技术(sterile insect technique,SIT)是一种环境友好、可作为大面积害虫综合治理(AW-IPM)的防治技术,是以压倒性比例释放不育昆虫来减少田间同种害虫繁殖量的害虫治理方法。苹果蠹蛾Cydia pomonella(L.)是世界重要的梨果类害虫,现已入侵世界5洲71国。本文综述了苹果蠹蛾大规模饲养技术、辐射不育技术、释放技术3个关键环节的研究与技术进展,主要包括:苹果蠹蛾人工饲料、实验种群建立、饲养设备与条件、收集和质量评估、长距离运输、辐射源与设备、辐射剂量与敏感性、释放方法、释放标记和释放量等,并介绍了各国采用SIT技术的应用效果。苹果蠹蛾在我国新疆、甘肃、宁夏、内蒙、黑龙江、吉林6个省区发现,对我国苹果产业安全生产构成严重威胁,我国很有必要引进并建立苹果蠹蛾SIT防治技术体系。     

Effect of rearing strategy and gamma radiation on fecundity and fertility of codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

The codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a serious pest of pome fruit worldwide. In an effort to reduce the use of pesticides to control this pest, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is used or considered for use as a component of area‐wide integrated pest management programmes. Rearing codling moths through diapause has been shown to improve the competitiveness of sterile moths released in orchards, and provides management alternatives that would allow mass‐rearing facilities to increase their yearly production of sterile moths. Because radiosensitivity in insects can be influenced by numerous biological factors, laboratory tests were conducted to examine whether the response to increasing doses of radiation, as expressed in the fecundity and fertility of cohorts of moths, is similar for adult moths mass‐reared through diapause or through standard (non‐diapause) production protocols. Our data revealed that the effect of increasing doses of radiation on fecundity and fertility of codling moths reared through both rearing strategies was similar. In the case of fertility, this is a particularly important finding for the expanded application of codling moth SIT. If mass‐rearing facilities use year‐round diapause rearing, the dose required to treat the insects prior to release will be similar to that used when codling moths are reared through standard production protocols.     

Mate choice by wild and mass‐reared females of the Mediterranean fruit fly

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is used to control Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), but its effectiveness is limited by low sexual competitiveness of mass‐reared males. This study investigated whether wild and mass‐reared [from a temperature sensitive lethal (tsl) genetic sexing strain] females display similar mate preferences and thus exert similar selective forces on the evolution of male courtship behaviour. Wild females preferred wild males over tsl males, whereas tsl females mated indiscriminately. The probability that mounting resulted in copulation was related to the duration of pre‐mount courtship for wild females, and wild males performed longer courtships than tsl males. Copulation occurred independently of courtship duration in tsl females. Counter to the aim of the SIT, female choice by tsl females appears to promote the evolution of male behaviour disfavoured by wild females.     

Comparison of laboratory and field bioassays of laboratory‐reared Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) quality and field performance

Maximum production and fitness of insect species that are mass‐reared for biological control programmes such as the sterile insect technique (SIT) have benefitted from the employment of quality control and quality management. With a growing interest in the use of SIT as a tactic for the suppression/eradication of key lepidopteran pests, such as the codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), there is a parallel interest in inexpensive bioassays that can accurately detect differences in insect quality and monitor insect field performance. In this study, we examined laboratory (mating and flight ability) bioassays and field (field cage and open field release) bioassays simultaneously to discern the ability of the different bioassays to predict quality and field performance of codling moths produced in a commercial mass‐rearing facility. Moth quality was degraded by different levels of radiation during the sterilization procedure. Both the laboratory flight bioassay and the field cage bioassay successfully detected quality and performance differences that were relevant to moth performance in the field. However, the study data suggest that the field cage bioassay was a better predictor of the daily performance of males that had been released in the orchard than the laboratory flight bioassay. Conversely, data suggest that the controlled climatic conditions of the laboratory allowed the flight cylinder bioassay to be more sensitive in detecting daily fluctuations in the quality of moths caused by factors within the mass‐rearing facility. Therefore, both laboratory and field bioassays may be required to provide feedback on quality and performance of mass‐reared moths in a SIT programme.     

Demography of a genetic sexing strain of Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae): effects of selection based on mating performance

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Impact of mass rearing and gamma irradiation on thermal tolerance of Eldana saccharina

Mating ability, survival, and fitness of mass‐produced sterile insects when released into the wild, are critical to the success of the sterile insect technique (SIT) as a pest management strategy, but their field performance remains one of the greatest challenges. Thermal stress tolerance by irradiated insects is a determinant of sterile insect quality, hence knowledge of their physiological competitiveness is essential for developing the SIT. Here, we report the results of experiments investigating effects of laboratory rearing and increasing radiation dosage on thermal limits to activity of the adult stage of Eldana saccharina Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The critical thermal maximum (CTmax) and critical thermal minimum (CTmin) were assayed using a dynamic method on both sexes of E. saccharina moths in laboratory vs. wild populations (to determine effect of rearing history). Furthermore, the laboratory population was exposed to 150, 200, and 250 Gy, to determine the effect of radiation dose. Laboratory‐reared E. saccharina were more heat tolerant compared to wild moths for both sexes (CTmax = 44.5 vs. 44.3 °C), whereas in the case of CTmin (3.7 vs. 4.4 °C), wild moths were more cold tolerant than their laboratory‐reared counterparts. Irradiation had a negative effect on both CTmax and CTmin. Moths treated at the lowest radiation dose were more cold and heat tolerant than those treated at the highest dosages (CTmin = 4.5 vs. 6.2 °C; CTmax = 43.9 vs. 43.5 °C), thereby reinforcing the importance of lower dosages rather than those that induce full sterility against E. saccharina. In general, sex had no influence on critical thermal limits in all moth treatments except for those irradiated at 150 Gy. The data presented in this article provide evidence that increasing radiation dose impacts on fitness of laboratory‐produced moths relative to their wild counterparts, which in turn could affect the effectiveness of the SIT programme.     

The sterile insect technique and the Mediterranean fruit fly: assessing the utility of aromatherapy in large field enclosures

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is widely used in integrated programs against tephritid fruit flies, particularly the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae). Unfortunately, the mass‐rearing procedures inherent to the SIT often lead to a reduction in the male mating competitiveness. One potential solution involves the prerelease exposure of males to particular attractants. In particular, male exposure to ginger root oil [Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae); hereafter GRO], has been shown to increase mating success dramatically in field cage trials. To evaluate more rigorously the effectiveness of GRO exposure, we here describe two projects that compared levels of egg sterility or pupal yield, respectively, following the release of wild flies and either GRO‐exposed (treated) sterile males or GRO‐deprived (control) sterile males in large field enclosures. In both projects, sterile males from a genetic sexing strain were exposed as adults to GRO for 24 h while held in large storage boxes. In Hawaii, we dissected eggs from fruits to determine the percentage of egg hatch at four overflooding ratios, ranging from 5 : 1 to 60 : 1 (sterile : wild males), and found that, at all four ratios, the proportion of unhatched (sterile) eggs was significantly greater in enclosures containing GRO‐exposed males than control males. In Guatemala, we allowed larvae to develop in fruits and counted the number of pupae produced. At the only overflooding ratio tested (25 : 1), pupal yield was approximately 25% lower for enclosures containing GRO‐exposed males than control males, although this difference was not statistically significant. An explanation for the differing outcomes is proposed, and the implications of these findings for the SIT are discussed.     

Is lack of mating competitiveness in spring linked to mating asynchrony between wild and mass‐reared codling moths from an operational sterile insect programme?

Mating competitiveness and pheromone trap catches of mass‐reared, male codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), from the Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada, mass‐rearing facility operated by the Okanagan‐Kootenay Sterile Insect Release Board, were compared to wild males using mark–release–recapture field experiments in spring, summer, and autumn at Summerland, British Columbia. In spring, significantly more wild diapause males mated with tethered, wild females than did non‐irradiated (0 Gy) or irradiated (100 or 250 Gy) non‐diapause, mass‐reared males. A lower dose of radiation did not improve mating competitiveness, nor catches of mass‐reared males released in spring. Median mating time for wild males was approximately 45 min earlier than mass‐reared males with most wild males (70.5%) mating before sunset and mass‐reared males mating at or shortly after sunset in spring. Superior mating competitiveness of wild males in spring was mirrored by greater recapture rates in pheromone‐baited traps. In summer, mating competitiveness of mass‐reared moths improved relative to wild males and there was a significant inverse relationship between radiation dose (0, 100, and 250 Gy) and competitiveness of mass‐reared males. In autumn, untreated, wild males were significantly more responsive to pheromone traps than non‐diapausing mass‐reared males receiving 250 Gy of radiation. Mass‐reared males, subjected to diapause‐inducing conditions as larvae and emerged from diapause before this irradiation treatment, were recaptured significantly more often than similarly irradiated, non‐diapause, mass‐reared males, but not more than untreated, diapause wild males. We hypothesize that differences between wild and mass‐reared males in daily timing or speed of responses to natural or synthetic pheromone sources under montane weather patterns typical of spring in British Columbia may partially explain poor activity of sterile males, and low sterile : wild overflooding ratios during spring when measured using pheromone traps by the sterile insect release programme in British Columbia.     

Mating behaviour of Dacus ciliatus (Loew) [Diptera:Tephritidae]: comparisons between a laboratory and a wild population

As part of the development of a sterile insect technique (SIT) application for the Ethiopian fruit fly, Dacus ciliatus, we studied the mating behaviour of a laboratory‐adapted strain (a 4‐year‐old colony kept for more than 40 generations) and a wild population. Effects of laboratory rearing and irradiation were assessed by carrying out mating compatibility and male mating competitiveness tests using a 1:1 ratio between irradiated (120 Gy) laboratory males and non‐irradiated wild males. Mating behaviour was studied on host and non‐host plants under field cage conditions. To assess the effect of mass rearing upon male performance, we repeated the mating competitiveness test using non‐irradiated laboratory insects. The findings indicated a high degree of compatibility among the two populations and satisfactory competitiveness of the irradiated laboratory males (ca. 35%). The competitiveness of non‐irradiated laboratory males was also ca. 35%, suggesting that no adverse effects resulted from their irradiation. Mating occurred only at twilight and mainly on the underside of leaves of non‐host plants (lemon trees). Findings are discussed in view of their implications for a future application of SIT against this fruit fly pest.