Identification Tools for African Frugivorous Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)
The current classification of African tephritids is the interim result of a continuous process of minor and major changes that, in the last 20 years, has resulted in the description of more than 60 new species from the seven tephritid genera of main econo
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Identification Tools for African Frugivorous Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) Massimiliano Virgilio
Abstract The current classification of African tephritids is the interim result of a continuous process of minor and major changes that, in the last 20 years, has resulted in the description of more than 60 new species from the seven tephritid genera of main economic relevance in Africa (Bactrocera, Capparimyia, Ceratitis, Dacus, Neoceratitis, Trirhithrum and Zeugodacus). In this context of dynamic change, rapid and accurate fruit fly identification is critical, particularly with respect to the early detection of pest invasions. Valuable resources for fruit fly identification include: the tephritid reference collections and repositories distributed within and outside the African continent; publicly available online databases; and the single- and multientry keys for the morphological identification of African tephritids. Identification through DNA barcoding represents a cost effective tool for the molecular diagnosis of African fruit flies and it has proved particularly useful for the identification of immature stages, of damaged specimens and of incomplete specimens. The molecular diagnosis of tephritids also represents a partial solution to the gradual loss of taxonomical expertise on this and other insect groups. In this chapter the advantages and limitations of the available identification tools and resources are discussed. Keywords Morphological identification • Natural history collections • Online databases • Identification keys • Molecular diagnosis • DNA barcoding
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Introduction
Tephritid fruit flies, or ‘true’ fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae), include approximately 500 genera and 4800 valid species, the vast majority (95 %) of which are phytophagous (Aluja and Norrbom 1999). Of all tephritid species 25-30 % are frugivorous. In Africa there are approximately 400 species of frugivorous tephritids of which more
M. Virgilio (*) Department of Biology and Joint Experimental Molecular Unit (JEMU), Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 S. Ekesi et al. (eds.), Fruit Fly Research and Development in Africa - Towards a Sustainable Management Strategy to Improve Horticulture, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43226-7_2
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M. Virgilio
than 50 are economically important (list provided in Virgilio et al. 2014). The current classification of African tephritids is the interim result of a continuous process of minor and major updating; in just the last 20 years this has included: • a monograph on the genera Dacus and Bactrocera from Africa and the Middle East (White 2006) with the genus (Hancock and Drew 2006) • a revision of the Ceratitis subgenera Acropteromma and Hoplolophomyia (De Meyer and Copeland 2001), Ceratalaspis (De Meyer 1998), Ceratitis s.s. (De Meyer 2000), Pardalaspis (De Meyer 1996) and Pterandrus (De Meyer and Freidberg 2006) • a revision of the genera Capparimyia (De Meyer and Freidberg 2005), C
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