Interações tritróficas entre moscas-das-frutas, suas plantas hospedeiras e seus parasitoides das regiões Nordeste e Sudeste do Estado do Pará

Abstract

Brazil is the third largest producer of fruits in the world. The tropical fruits market is a promising economic activity, being in expansion in the State of Pará, Brazil. The fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) are the most damaging pests in fruticulture around the world. Biological control is one of the tactics used in fruit flies integrated management helping reduce their population density and contributing to increase natural enemies populations. Different brazilian regions have reported interactions between of fruit flies and their parasitoids. This research aims to contribute with increase of scientific knowledge about the distribution of fruit flies in the State of Pará, reporting their occurrence, host plants and parasitoids. The study was conducted in representative cities from Northeast and Southeastern regions of the Pará, particularly in the municipalities of Tome-Açú and Marabá, respectively. The fruit flies samples were randomly collected. The indices of fruit fly infestations (Imf) were expressed by the mean number of larvae per fruit and per kilo of fresh fruit. The parasitism rates (Ip) were calculated based on the number of emerged parasitoids in relation to the known number of pupae. The emerged parasitoids were identified in the Entomology Laboratory of Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, in Belém (Pará) and Embrapa Amapá, in Macapá (AP). In Tome-Açú city, the fruit species Barbados cherry (Malpighia punicifolia), hog plum (Spondias mombin), guava (Psidium guajava), ice-cream bean (Inga edulis), and mango (Mangifera indica) are important repositories of fruit fly populations. In the southeast region of Pará, M. punicifolia, P. guajava, starfruit (Averrhoa carambola), and I. edulis are the main fruit species host of fruit fly populations. Only Anastrepha species occur and infest fruits in both regions studied. This research reported the first association of: A. fraterculus with starfruit in the Amazonian region (Tome-Açú); A. sororcula with starfruit in the State of Pará (TomeAçú); A. obliqua with camocamo in the State of Pará (Tome-Açú); the fruit fly (specie A. obliqua) in cashew fruit in the State of Pará (Tome-Açú and Marabá); fruit-flies (A. obliqua and A. distincta species) in mango in the State of Pará; first association of A. distincta with mango in Brazil (Tome-Açú); the fruit fly A. obliqua with Pouteria caimito in the State of Pará (Tome-Açú) and; A. serpentina with Santô in Brazil (Tome-Açú).