Determining host status for regulated fruit fly pests: A host resistance and life table approach

The majority of Fruit Flies (Tephritidae) regulated as quarantine pests are known to reproduce in multiple host fruit species, often in several plant families. Methods of determining host-nonhost status include evaluations of ecology, behavior and host fruit resistance. Experimental methods for evaluating resistance or other physiological/nutritional factors in regulatory entomology have not been improved in the last 20 years. Here I present a method that evaluates mortality rates in different host fruit maturity and tissues over the development of the pest. I use a survival table approach with the Mexican fruit fly, the West Indian fruit fly, and the serpentine fruit fly using grapefruit as examples.