<b>Infestation of coffee plantation by fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): associated species and natural parasitism on the Midwest region of Bahia, Brazil</b>

Abstract

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae), the main plague on the global fruitculture, assumed great importance in coffee plantation, since they determine early fall of fruits, increase on the amount of floaters and lost on the dink’s quality. The South-west of the state of Bahia has important fruitculture and coffee plantations, and there are gaps in knowledge about bioecology of tephritid that can support actions of management of these plagues. This work had as objectives to obtain the rates on the infestation on coffee (Coffea arabica L.) by tephritids, associated species and their community structure, besides the natural parasitism of this plagues in shaded and full sun cultivation in the coffee region of Planalto de Vitória da Conquista, BA. The work consisted in the survey of the number of adults with cultivation located in Barra da Choça (shaded and full sun Catuaí Amarelo cutivar) and Vitória da Conquista (full sun Mundo Novo cultivar) and in the larval monitoring, by the harvest of the fruits, in the plantations already mentioned and in the municipalities of Planalto (full sun Catuaí Vermelho and Catuaí Amarelo cultivars) and Vitória da Conquista (full sun Catuaí Amarelo). The FTD index ranged from 3.1 to 18.6 with capture of C. capitata and eight Anastrepha species. C. capitata is the most numerous (90.42%), independent of the cultivar and the cultivation system. The average infestation index ranged from 112.79 (full sun Mundo Novo) to 168.89 puparium/kg of fruit(Shaded Catuaí Amarelo). Four tephritids were associated to the coffee: C. capitata, A. amita, A. distincta and A. fraterculus, this one being the first registration about A. amita and coffee association. It was verified the presence of parasitoid Utetes anastrephae (Viereck, 1913), with low index of parasitism (2.13% a 4.40%).