Biology and fertility life table of Bactrocera carambolae on grape and acerola

Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae), native of Southeast Asia, is present in Brazil but restricted to Amapá, Pará and Roraima, where it has quarantine pest status. The possible dispersion to other fruit producing regions of Brazil could cause damages, including for exportation, due to quarantine restrictions imposed by fruit importing countries. The objective of this work was to describe the biological parameters and calculate the fertility life table of B. carambolae on grape (Vitis vinifera L.) and acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.). The experiment was conducted in the laboratory under controlled conditions. The mean number of punctures and the mean number of eggs per female on grapes were 1.48 ± 0.05 and 9.87 ± 0.36, respectively. The mean number puparia per fruit was 0.1 ± 0.02 (grape) and 0.5 ± 0.10 (acerola). The pupal viability was 82.4% (grape) and 70.6% (acerola). The mean time ± SE of one generation, in days, was 25.8 ± 1.10 (grape) and 19.7 ± 0.21 (acerola). The mean fecundity was 1663.8 ± 501.01 (grape) and 206.9 ± 26.21 (acerola) with eggs viability of 5.6% (grape) and 12.5% (acerola). The mean longevity, in days, was 77.3 ± 12.13 on grape and 82.4 ± 4.24 on acerola. The study found that B. carambolae completes its biological cycle on grape and on acerola leaving offspring.