& Pest Control Newsletter, No. 84, January 2015

Relevant Published Articles

Eradication of tephritid fruit pest populations: Synonymization of key pest species within the Bac- outcomes and prospects trocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephri-

a,b,c c,d tidae): taxonomic changes based on a review of 20 David Maxwell Suckling , John M. Kean , Lloyd D. years of integrative morphological, molecular, cy- a,b,c,e f g Stringer , Carlos Cáceres-Barrios , Jorge Hendrichs , togenetic, behavioural and chemoecological data Jesus Reyes-Flores g and Bernard C. Dominiak h 1 a The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Mark K. Schutze et al. (48 other authors from 34 different Christchurch, New Zealand institutes) b Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, Australia 1 c School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland Better Border Biosecurity, New Zealand University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia d AgResearch Limited, Hamilton, New Zealand e School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Abstract Zealand papayae Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera philip- f Joint FAO/IAEADivision of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agricul- pinensis Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera carambolae Drew ture, Seibersdorf Laboratories, Seibersdorf, Austria g Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agricul- & Hancock, and Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & ture, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria White are four horticultural pest tephritid fruit fly species h NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, New South Wales, that are highly similar, morphologically and genetically, to Australia the destructive pest, the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dor- Abstract salis (Hendel) (Diptera: ). This similarity has BACKGROUND: The number of insect eradication pro- rendered the discovery of reliable diagnostic characters grammes is rising in response to globalisation. A database problematic, which, in view of the economic importance of of and plant pathogen eradications covers 1050 these taxa and the international trade implications, has re- incursion responses, with 928 eradication programmes on sulted in ongoing difficulties for many areas of plant pro- 299 pest and disease taxa in 104 countries (global eradica- tection and food security. Consequently, a major interna- tion database b3.net.nz/gerda). tional collaborative and integrated multidisciplinary re- METHODS: A subset of the database was assembled with search effort was initiated in 2009 to build upon existing 211 eradication or response programmes against 17 species literature with the specific aim of resolving biological spe- of fruit (Tephritidae) in 31 countries, in order to inves- cies limits among B. papayae , B. philippinensis , B. caram- tigate factors affecting the outcome. bolae , B. invadens and B. dorsalis to overcome constraints RESULTS: The failure rate for fruit fly eradication pro- to pest management and international trade. Bactrocera grammes was about 7%, with 0% for Ceratitis capitata philippinensis has recently been synonymized with B. pa- (n=85 programmes) and 0% for two Anastrepha species payae as a result of this initiative and this review corrobo- (n=12 programmes), but 12% for 13 Bactrocera species rates that finding; however, the other names remain in use. (n=108 programmes). A number of intended eradication While consistent characters have been found to reliably programmesagainst long-established populations were not distinguish B. carambolae from B. dorsalis , B. invadens initiated because of cost and other considerations, or and B. papayae , no such characters have been found to dif- evolved during the planning phase into suppression pro- ferentiate the latter three putative species. We conclude that grammes. Cost was dependent on area, ranged from $US B. carambolae is a valid species and that the remaining 0.1 million to $US 240 million and averaged about $US 12 taxa, B. dorsalis , B. invadens and B. papayae , represent the million (normalised to $US in 2012). In addition to the rou- same species. Thus, we consider B. dorsalis (Hendel) as the tine use of surveillance networks, quarantine and fruit de- senior synonym of B. papayae Drew and Hancock syn.n. struction, the key tactics used in eradication programmes and B. invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White syn.n. A re- were male annihilation, protein bait sprays (which can at- description of B. dorsalis is provided. Given the agricultur- tract both sexes), fruit destruction and the sterile insect al importance of B. dorsalis , this taxonomic decision will technique. have significant global plant biosecurity implications, af- CONCLUSIONS: Eradication success generally required fecting pest management, quarantine, international trade, the combination of several tactics applied on an area-wide postharvest treatment and basic research. Throughout the basis. Because the likelihood of eradication declines with paper, we emphasize the value of independent and multi- an increase in the area infested, it pays to invest in effective disciplinary tools in delimiting species, particularly in surveillance networks that allow early detection and de- complicated cases involving morphologically cryptic taxa. limitation while invading populations are small, thereby The full paper was published in: Systematic Entomology (2014), DOI: greatly favouring eradication success. 10.1111/syen.12113. The full paper was published in: Pest Management Science (2014) DOI 10.1002/ps.3905.

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