Some details on the biology, behavior and laboratory mass rearing of Anastrepha obliqua are offered. Information on larvaI diets and oviposition substrates are discussed. Eggs of A. obliqua are, very succeptible to dehydratation and they collapse just few minutes after oviposition, if substrate for oviposition is not near 100% R.H. When using fruits as oviposition substrate, smallerfruit species, Spanish plums (Spondias spp.) offer higher yields. Bigger fruits (mango) loose large amounts of water and it accumulates in the sand substrate drowning mature larvae. After analyzing the biological cycle, the weaker part seems to be the 20 minute period in which mature larvae abandon the fallen fruit substrate and crawl few a centimeters on the floor seeking for an appropiate place for ovipositing. In this period large amounts of predators easily diminish larval population. Once pupation takes place, adult forms hatch in small groups, after eleven days, when atmosferic relativehumidity reaches 70%. Another observations are also included.
Aspects on the biology and ecology of Anastrepha obliqua, at both laboratory and field conditions, are given. Adult emergence occurred between 11 to 22 days, with an average of 17 days of pupation. In the field, atmospheric relative humidity seems to be the main factor affecting adult emergence, and is independent of soil humidity and/or existence of available host fruits. Both fungus and hymenopteran parasitoids determine that a percentage of pupae never hatch, but another population fraction hatches in small numbers through the following months. Water consumption is important for adult survival on A. obliqua, but water is also a mortality factor when it reared under laboratory conditions. This causes a good number of adult drawings in rearing cages. Spiders also represent an important mortality factor under mass rearing conditions. A. obliqua adults show a high degree of polyphagism and feed on different kinds of ripe fruits different from those which are infested by oviposition of the gravid females. This behavior explains why it is possible to capture A. obliqua in traps placed in plantations of fruits infested by Anastrepha species other than A. obliqua. Sexual maturity is reached after 17 days, and the maximum longevity recorded under laboratory conditions, varied from 40 to 53 days, with a similar survival rate in both sexes. Life expectancy was found to be 29 days for males and 31,5 for females. Marked adults released in the fields were recaptured after 58 days, suggesting a longer expectancy than in laboratory. Under captivity, much of the mating courtship seems to be ignored, and copulation takes place with no major problem, lasting about 45 minutes.
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