Sieving Fruit Pulp to Detect Immature Tephritid Fruit Flies in the FieldAmy L. Roda 1, Gary Steck 2, Thomas Fezza 3, Todd Shelly 3, Rita Duncan 4, Nicholas Manoukis 5, Lori Carvalho 5, Abbie Fox 6, Paul Kendra 7, Daniel Carrillo 4
1Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), Science and Technology (S&T) Miami, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 2Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 3APHIS, PPQ, S&T, USDA, 4IFAS, Tropical Research and Education Center, University of Florida, 5Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, USDA, 6APHIS, PPQ, Field Operations, USDA, 7ARS, Subtropical Horticulture Research Station, USDA
Increasing the detection of immature tephritid fruit flies in the field can trigger timely efforts to eliminate populations of these destructive pests. Detecting late instar larvae is faster and more accurate when mushing host fruit in a bag and passing the pulp through a series of sieves than hand cutting and visual inspection.
