Estimates of pupation depth and survival of the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), are important for optimizing soil control and for better understanding its natural mortality in the agricultural system of Guangzhou, China. Late third-instar larvae were placed in soils having relative moistures of 0-100% for pupation. No pupae were found on the surface at soil moistures of 0-70%. Instead, more than 50% of the larvae pupated on the surface at soil moistures of 80, 90, and 100%. Most of the larvae preferred to pupate in less than 4 cm of the soils, while relatively few larvae moved more than 4 cm when the soils received too little water or too much water. The survival rate of pupae at 70% moisture level was low, and the pupae were unable to survive at soil moistures of 0, 80, 90, and 100%, while emergence rates exceeded 90% at the conditions of 10-60% moisture levels. Moreover, soil moistures had an influence on the average time to emergence (average time between the larvae release and the emergence of adults). Adult flies at 30% moisture level emerged earlier than those at the other moisture levels, whereas the average time to emergence at 70% moisture level was the longest.

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There have been relatively few attempts to model the distributions of the fruit flies Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Ceratitis cosyra (Walker), and Ceratitis rosa Karsch in China, but the geographic distributions of these species are of considerable concern in terms of biosecurity. In this study, two different modeling methods (genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction [GARP] and maximum entropy species distribution modeling [Maxent]) were used to predict the potential distributions of these three fly species in China, by using distribution records and a set of environmental predictor variables. The results showed that Maxent performed well, compared with modeling by GARP, at each test threshold. For all three species, the results predicted by Maxent agreed with the observed distributions in Africa and in other parts of the world. In China, C. capitata seems to have the highest number of favorable habitat areas, relative to C. cosyra and C. rosa, i.e., Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Sichuan and Chongqing, whereas C. cosyra has the smallest range of suitable areas, i.e., Yunnan, some parts of Hainan and Sichuan. The suitable areas for C. rosa are mainly restricted to Yunnan, Hainan, southern Guangdong, and a few areas of Sichuan. The indications are that on the whole, Southwest and South China are the areas with the highest risk for establishment from these three fly species. Jackknife tests reveal that environmental variables associated with temperature have the strongest influence on the potential distributions of all three species relative to other variables.

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Life tables of the planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) on two wild rice species, Oryza officinalis Wall, ex Watt. and Oryza rufipogon Griff., and on 'Taichung Native 1' (O. sativa indica TN1) were studied at 27 degrees C in the laboratory. The raw data were analyzed based on the age-stage, two-sex life table to take both sexes and the variable developmental rate among individuals and between sexes into consideration. The intrinsic rate of increase (r), the finite rate (lamda), the net reproduction rate (R0) and the mean generation time (T) of N. lugens on O. officinalis were -0.0616 d(-1), 0.9402 d(-1), 0.10 offspring, and 36.7 d, respectively, showing that the species is resistant to N. lugens. The resistance of O. officinalis is expressed in the long developmental time from first to fifth instar of N. lugens, the reduced preadult survival rate, the short adult longevity, and low fecundity. However, the population parameters of the N. lugens on O. rufipogon and TN1 were 0.1096 d(-1), 1.1158 d(-1), 67.82 offspring, and 38.6 d and 0.1340 d(-1), 1.1434 d(-1), 144.77 offspring, and 37.2 d, respectively. These population parameters showed that N. lugens can successfully survive and reproduce on both O. rufipogon and TN1.