Preliminary investigation on the geographical distribution of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Dip., Tephritidae), in Mazandaran province, Iran

Subject Areas : entomology and othea arthropods

S. Mirsardoo ¹ (Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Tehran branch, Tehran, Iran)
S. A. Mafi-Pashakolaei ² (respectively, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Mazandaran, Sari, Iran)
H. Barari ³ (Lecturer respectively, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Mazandaran, Sari, Iran)

Received: 2009-12-30 Accepted : 2010-05-09 Published : 2010-08-23

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Abstract :

Preliminary investigation on geographical distribution of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) was conducted in Mazandaran province, Iran in 2006–2008. It is one of the most destructive pests of different crops, which observed after 20 years, in Noor (a city of Mazandaran) in October – November 2006. The primary studies for monitoring of the pest was carried out by direct observation of some citrus orchards encountered severe fallen of damaged fruits. Following to this issue, different types of fly traps (sticky yellow card, plastic bottle of mineral water, Jackson and McPhail) and attractant compounds (mixing of 2% protein hydrolizate with Malathion 2 lit. per 1000 lit. water, ceratrap and sex pheromone) were used in 2007-2008. The monitoring of the pest was started by setting of the traps in both infested and intact fruit orchards at the beginning of spring. The traps were checked weekly and number of flies and new infested areas in each city were recorded, separately. The infested cities recognized in 2006 were Sari, Qaem-Shar, Babol, Juibar, Mahmodabad, Babolsar and Amol. Generally, infestation was limited to urban parts and rarely observed in rural parts. Investigation in 2007 determined the presence of the pest in new areas such as Savad-kuh, Noshar and Chalous that the range of distribution reached to rural parts (7 to 10 Km. far from the infestation center). In spite of severe cold weather (-15℃) in winter 2007, adults of the pest appeared earlier in the following season compared to 2006. Constant monitoring revealed the invasion of pest to the new areas including: Behshar, Neka and Tonekabon cities. geographical position of more than 500 infested localities was determined by GPS and analyzed by GIS software on the map of Mazandaran province. The results of three-year investigation indicated that the Mediterranean fruit fly distributed its geographical dispersion from the east part of Mazandaran (Behshar) to the west part of the province (Tonekabon), except Ramsar.