Based on literature records and the results of an extensive trapping program, presence records for 194 species of Bactrocera and Dacus in the 19 provinces of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are presented. Of the 770 records, over 500 are new. Based on species accumulation curves, Central, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, New Ireland and Bougainville provinces, plus the province pairs of East and West Sepik, East and West New Britain, and Southern Highlands and Enga, can be regarded as having been adequately sampled. The remaining provinces should still be regarded as being under-collected. On mainland PNG, Morobe and Central provinces have the richest faunas and highest levels of endemism, approximately 15% each. All other mainland provinces have very low levels of endemism and are essentially subsets of the faunas of Morobe and Central Province. Although also with very low levels of endemism, the Highlands provinces have a statistically distinct fauna, suggesting that a pool of the PNG species are able to utilise both lowland and highland habitats. The fruit fly fauna of the island provinces is distinct from the mainland fauna, with further separation between the islands of the Bismark Archipelago (New Britain and New Ireland) and Bougainville. The greatest diversity of flies in PNG are associated with major northern geological elements, i.e., the New Guinea orogen, New Guinea accreted terranes and the off-shore islands, rather than the primary southern geological element, the Australian creton.
The sex pheromone of the red banded mango caterpillar, Deanolis sublimbalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), a serious pest of the mango Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae) in India and Southeast Asia and a recent invader into northern Australia, has been identified. Three candidate compounds were identified from pheromone gland extracts of female moths, using gas chromatography (GC), GC-electroantennographic detection and GC-mass spectrometric analyses, in conjunction with dimethyldisulfide derivatization. Field bioassays established that both (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald) and (3Z,6Z,9Z)-tricosatriene (3Z,6Z,9Z-23:Hy) were required for attraction of male D. sublimbalis moths, and 1000 microg of a 1:1 mix of Z11-16:Ald and 3Z,6Z,9Z-23:Hy was more attractive to male moths than caged virgin females. However, the binary blend was only attractive when the isomeric purity of the monounsaturated aldehyde was >99%, suggesting that the (E)-isomer was inhibitory. Although (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol (Z11-16:OH) was tentatively identified in gland extracts, the addition of this compound to the binary blend did not increase the numbers of moths captured. The pheromone can now be used in integrated pest management strategies.
Bactrocera Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a genus of nearly 500 species, the
majority of which are endemic to tropical South-East Asia and Australasia
(Drew 1989). Nearly all Bactrocera have frugivorous larvae that feed on the
fleshy fruit of tropical trees, shrubs, and vines, and some species are major
horticultural pests (White & Elson-Harris 1992). In this paper,where the term
‘fruit fly’ is used, we are referring explicitly to species of Bactrocera.
Examination of Delphacini holdings in Australian insect collections and comparison with material from overseas collections has revealed several species not previously recorded from Australia, Timor Leste and/or Papua New Guinea. Newly recorded species from Australia are Anchodelphax olenus Fennah, Cemus sauteri (Muir), Falcotoya aurinia Fennah, Hagamiodes fuscicaudata (Muir), Horcoma colorata lacteipennis (Muir), Latistria placitus (van Duzee), Nemetor sabinus Fennah, Nilaparvata bakeri (Muir), Nilaparvata myersi (Muir), Numata corporaali (Muir), Nycheuma coctum (Yang), Perkinsiella bakeri (Muir), Rhombotoya pseudonigripennis (Muir), Tagosodes pusanus (Distant), Toya bridwelli (Muir). Newly recorded species from Timor Leste are Falcotoya aurinia, Horcoma colorata lacteipennis, Latistria placitus, Nycheuma coctum and Tagosodes pusanus. Newly recorded species from Papua New Guinea are Hagamiodes fuscicaudata and Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén). An updated checklist of Australian Delphacini is provided. [Correction added on 19 December 2013, after first online publication: 'Laodelphax striatellus' has been removed from the list of newly recorded species.]
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