Research Article |
Corresponding author: Sunday Ekesi ( sekesi@icipe.org ) Academic editor: Marc De Meyer
© 2015 Chrysantus M. Tanga, Aruna Manrakhan, John-Henry Daneel, Samira A. Mohamed, Khamis Fathiya, Sunday Ekesi.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Tanga CM, Manrakhan A, Daneel JH, Mohamed SA, Khamis FM, Ekesi S (2015) Comparative analysis of development and survival of two Natal fruit fly Ceratitis rosa Karsch (Diptera, Tephritidae) populations from Kenya and South Africa. In: De Meyer M, Clarke AR, Vera MT, Hendrichs J (Eds) Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Enhance SIT Application and Facilitate International Trade. ZooKeys 540: 467-487. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.540.9906
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Comparative analysis of development and survivorship of two geographically divergent populations of the Natal fruit fly Ceratitis rosa Karsch designated as C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from Kenya and South Africa were studied at seven constant temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 33, 35 °C). Temperature range for development and survival of both populations was 15–35 °C. The developmental duration was found to significantly decrease with increasing temperature for C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from both countries. Survivorship of all the immature stages of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from Kenya was highest over the range of 20–30 °C (87–95%) and lowest at 15 and 35 °C (61–76%). Survivorship of larvae of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from South Africa was lowest at 35 °C (22%) and 33 °C (0.33%), respectively. Results from temperature summation models showed that C. rosa R2 (egg, larva and pupa) from both countries were better adapted to low temperatures than R1, based on lower developmental threshold. Minimum larval temperature threshold for Kenyan populations were 11.27 °C and 6.34 °C (R1 and R2, respectively) compared to 8.99 °C and 7.74 °C (R1 and R2, respectively) for the South African populations. Total degree-day (DD) accumulation for the Kenyan populations were estimated at 302.75 (C. rosa R1) and 413.53 (C. rosa R2) compared to 287.35 (C. rosa R1) and 344.3 (C. rosa R2) for the South African populations. These results demonstrate that C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from both countries were physiologically distinct in their response to different temperature regimes and support the existence of two genetically distinct populations of C. rosa. It also suggests the need for taxonomic revision of C. rosa, however, additional information on morphological characterization of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 is needed.
Ceratitis rosa , comparative demography, developmental thresholds, survivorship
Amongst the Afro-tropical group of tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae), Ceratitis rosa Karsch is considered a serious pest of cultivated fruit (
In Kenya, C. rosa was originally thought to be restricted to the coastal region (
Ceratitis rosa is morphologically very similar to two other species within the same subgenus Pterandrus: C. fasciventris (Bezzi) and C. anonae Graham (
Recent genetic analysis has shown that the FAR complex is probably five entities, rather than the three taxonomic species (
Temperature is the single most important environmental factor determining development and survival of tephritid fruit flies (
Given the recent evidence of existence of the two groups of C. rosa, studies were undertaken separately in Kenya and South Africa, spanning across the geographical distribution of the pest in mainland Africa, to determine the thermal developmental rates and thresholds of the two C. rosa types.
The colonies of the two C. rosa groups (C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2, “hereafter referred to as R1 and R2”) from Kenya were established at the Animal Rearing and Containment Unit (ARCU) of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya. The C. rosa R1 colony was started with 93 flies (47 males and 46 females) reared from infested fallen guava fruits collected from a farm in Kibarani, Msambweni district, Kenya (S 04°19.628'; E 039°32.411'; 34 m a.s.l). The C. rosa R2 colony was initially started with 29 individuals (14 males and 15 females) recovered from infested mango fruits collected at a smallholder farm in Kithoka, Imenti North district, Kenya (N 00°05'58.9"; E 037°40'39.5"; 1,425 m a.s.l).
Stock cultures of the South African C. rosa groups came from infested jambos, Syzygium jambos L. (Alston), and loquat, Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. Collected, respectively, from the following locations: Nelspruit: S 25° 27' 08.19” E30° 58' 11.27”, approx 612 m) and Pretoria: S25° 45' 13.7” E28° 13' 45”, approx 1,368 m a.s.l). The flies originating from Nelspruit were designated as C. rosa R1 by M. De Meyer (Royal Museum for Central Africa) and those from Pretoria were assigned as C. rosa R2
Procedures for obtaining the wild fruit fly populations from infested fruits in both countries were carried out according to the methodology described by
On the artificial diet, the two C. rosa populations from each country were reared for 5-8 generations before the start of the experiments. In both countries R1 colony was kept at 28 ± 1 °C, 50 ± 8% RH and photoperiod of L12: D12, while the R2 colony was kept at 23 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 10% RH and photoperiod of L12: D12).
Newly emerged adults were held in well ventilated Perspex cages (30 cm length x 30 cm width x 30 cm height). The eggs of each C. rosa population were collected by offering ripe fruit domes (fruit skin that has the seed and pulp scooped out) to mature adult flies. Numerous small holes were made on the fruit domes made using pins (0.8 mm diameter) to facilitate oviposition by the adult flies. The eggs were collected within a uniform time interval of 1 h after oviposition using a moistened fine camel’s hair brush
Egg: Using a fine brush, one hundred (100) eggs were randomly selected, counted and carefully lined on moistened sterilized black cloth, which were thereafter placed on top of ≈ 60 g of diet inside a Petri dish. The Petri dishes were immediately transferred to thermostatically controlled environmental chambers (MIR-554-PE, Sanyo/Panasonic cooled incubators, Japan and modified Conviron CMP3023 incubators, Manitoba, Canada were used in Kenya and South Africa, respectively) set at seven constant temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 33 and 35 °C (± 0.03 °C) and 50 ± 8% RH, 12:12 L:D photoperiod. Duration of egg stage was observed at 6-hourly intervals under a binocular microscope to determine the time and percentage hatch. The start time was taken as the time when the eggs were collected from the mango dome or apple and developmental time and survival for each replicate were estimated. The experiments were replicated 5 to 6 times. The required temperatures inside the incubators were regularly monitored using standard thermo-hygrometers and experiments in which temperatures fluctuated more than ±0.03 °C were discarded and not included in the analysis.
Larva: One hundred neonate larvae of ~1 h old were randomly obtained from the fruit fly cultures and carefully transferred to squares (either 1cm2 or 2 cm2) of filter paper. The square filter paper containing neonate larvae were placed on top of a 150 g carrot-based larval diet in either a Petri dish or a plastic container. The Petri dish or plastic container was then placed in a rectangular plastic rearing container carrying a thin layer (~ 0.5 cm) of sterilized sand at the bottom for pupation and then transferred to the thermostatically controlled environmental chamber. The top of the plastic container was screened with light cloth netting material for ventilation. Larvae fed ad libitum, and mature larvae were allowed to freely leave the Petri dish into rectangular plastic containers for pupation. The sand was observed daily for newly formed pupae and puparia were separated from the pupation medium by gentle sifting. Records of larval durations were kept for each C. rosa group at each temperature regime. The experiments were replicated 5 times.
Pupa: One hundred newly formed pupae (~ 1 h old) were randomly obtained from the fruit fly cultures kept at the rearing conditions described previously. The pupae used were from larvae kept at the same temperature being studied. Pupae used were placed in Petri dishes (8.6 cm diameter) and transferred into aerated Perspex cages (30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm) to allow for adult emergence. The cages were monitored on a daily basis for adult emergence and pupal developmental time and survival were recorded. The experiments were replicated 5 times.
The developmental time and percentage survival of each immature life stage of the two C. rosa groups in each country were compared using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Prior to analysis, the developmental time data and percentages of survivorship were subjected to [log (x + 1)] and arcsine-square-root transformation [Arcsin square root (x+1)], respectively, to meet the assumption of homogeneity (
Linear model: The linear model expressed as r (T) = a + bT was used to estimate the relationship between relevant temperatures and developmental rate of C. rosa. In this model, r is the rate of development [=1/Development time (D) in days], T is ambient temperature (°C); intercept (a) and slope (b) are the model parameters. Thermal constant, K (=1/b) is the number of degree-days (DDs) or heat units above the threshold needed for completion of a developmental stage. Lower temperature threshold (Tmin) was determined using the inverse slope of the fitted linear regression line as the x-intercept (= - a/b), and is the estimated lower temperature at which the rate of development is either zero or no measurable development occurs (
where s2 is the residual mean square of y, y¯ is the sample mean, and N is the sample. Additionally, the size of the SEK for the thermal constant K for the linear model having slope b is expressed as:
Nonlinear model: Several empirical nonlinear models were fitted to the instar specific developmental rate data to estimate the optimum temperature threshold (Topt) and upper temperature threshold (Tmax). Topt is the threshold temperature at which developmental rate is maximal, while Tmax is the lethal threshold at which development ceases. Among the various non-linear models applied to assess the nonlinear relationship, Brière 1 model provided an excellent description of the temperature-dependent development of lowland and highland populations of C. rosa across all temperatures tested for all developmental stages, permitting the estimation of the upper and lower developmental thresholds (
r(T) = aT (T – Tmin) × (Tmax – T)1/2
where, r is the developmental rate as a function of temperature (T), and ‘a’ is an empirical constant. The following equation from
Topt = [4Tmax + 3Tmin + (16Tmax2 + 9Tmin2 – 16TminTmax) 1/2]/10
The mean values for Tmin, Topt, and Tmax were determined for each life stage for each group of C. rosa using the results generated by the developmental rate models.
For both the linear and non-linear models, the following statistical items were used to assess the goodness-of-fit: the coefficient of determination (for linear model; R2) or the coefficient of nonlinear regression and residual sum of squares (RSS) (for nonlinear models; R2). Higher values of R2 and lower values for RSS reveal a better fit. For the linear regression, data which deviated from the straight line through the other points were rejected for correct calculation of regression (
Egg: For R1, egg development was longest at 15 °C and shortest at 35 °C (F = 108.2; df = 5, 50; P = 0.0001) (Table
Mean ± SE developmental time (days) of immature stages of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from Kenya at different constant temperatures.
Temperature (°C) | Egg | Larva | Pupa | Total (days) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | |
10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
15 | 8.91 ± 0.51aB | 7.10 ± 0.77aA | 28.71 ± 0.65aB | 23.93 ± 0.64aA | 32.54 ± 0.85aB | 27.79 ± 0.64aA | 68.64 ± 1.79aB | 58.85 ± 1.39aA |
20 | 5.50 ± 0.59bB | 3.82 ± 0.34bA | 14.92 ± 0.56bB | 12.36 ± 0.51bA | 19.31 ± 0.53bB | 16.77 ± 0.55bA | 39.0 ± 0.85bB | 32.67 ± 0.59bA |
25 | 2.43 ± 0.24cA | 2.90 ± 0.33bcA | 8.92 ± 0.52cB | 10.17 ± 0.50cA | 9.92 ± 0.43cB | 13.82 ± 0.59cA | 19.60 ± 1.33cB | 27.20 ± 0.81cA |
30 | 1.90 ± 0.33cB | 2.56 ± 0.24bcA | 7.75 ± 0.58dB | 9.71 ± 0.41cA | 8.31 ± 0.42dB | 10.85 ± 0.48dA | 17.30 ± 1.33cB | 23.0 ± 0.81dA |
33 | 1.50 ± 0.24cA | 1.83 ± 0.34cA | 7.36 ± 0.50dB | 9.36 ± 0.30cA | No emergence | No emergence | - | - |
35 | 1.38 ± 0.23cB | 0.00 ± 0.00A | 6.77 ± 0.52dB | 0.00 ± 0.00A | No emergence | No emergence | - | - |
Larva: At larval stage, the trend was similar to egg with developmental duration decreasing from 28.71 ± 0.65 d at 15 °C to 6.77 ± 0.52 d at 35 °C (F = 705.6; d.f. = 5, 72; P = 0.0001) for R1 and from 23.93 ± 0.64 d at 15 °C to 9.36 ± 0.30 d at 33 °C (F = 422.5; d.f. = 4, 60; P = 0.0001) for R2 (Table
Pupa: At 10, 33 and 35 °C no eclosion was observed for both C. rosa groups (Table
Egg-adult: Total developmental duration from egg to adult for R1 and R2 was longest at 15 °C and shortest at 30 °C. Significant differences were found between the two C. rosa groups when egg to adult developmental durations were compared across all the temperatures (Table
Estimated parameter values of the linear and nonlinear models are presented in Table
Parameter estimates and their approximate standard errors for linear and Brière-1 nonlinear models describing the relationship between temperature and development rate (1/D) of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from Kenya.
Model | Parameters | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egg | Larva | Pupa | Egg | Larva | Pupa | ||
Linear | a | -0.412 | -0.077 | -0. 080 | -0.270 | -0.041 | -0. 043 |
b | 0.035 | 0.008 | 0.007 | 0.0263 | 0.006 | 0.005 | |
K | 28.57 ± 2.68 | 133.33 ± 7.24 | 140.85 ± 33.13 | 37.04 ± 1.96 | 172.41 ± 37.75 | 204.08 ± 30.28 | |
Tmin | 11.77 ± 1.50 | 10.27 ± 2.54 | 11.31 ± 2.26 | 10.0 ± 0.83 | 7.07 ± 3.99 | 8.73 ± 2.15 | |
RSS | 2.6 × 10-5 | 4.2 × 10-5 | 1.4 × 10-4 | 2.0 × 10-3 | 8.1 × 10-5 | 1.3 × 10-4 | |
R2 | 0.999 | 0.991 | 0.936 | 0.899 | 0.908 | 0.895 | |
Brière-1 | Tmin | 14.23 ± 1.08 | 11.27 ± 0.71 | 11.66 ± 0.47 | 9.66 ± 1.45 | 6.34 ± 0.84 | 8.09 ± 0.69 |
Tmax | 37.0 ± 0.22 | 37.0 ± 8.71 | 33.0 ± 1.28 | 35.0 ± 2.64 | 35.0 ± 1.19 | 33.0 ± 1.26 | |
Topt | 31.44 | 30.98 | 27.87 | 29.16 | 28.70 | 27.35 | |
R2 | 0.945 | 0.896 | 0.835 | 0.992 | 0.898 | 0.905 |
Using the linear model, the lowest developmental threshold for eggs was estimated at 11.8 °C for R1 and 10.0 °C for R2. The egg stage required 28.57 degree-days (DD) to complete development in the R1 and 37.04 DD in the R2. Ceratitis rosa R1 required 133.33 DD above the development threshold of 10.27 °C to complete development from larval stage to the pupal stage while R2 took 172.41 DD to develop above a threshold of 7.07 °C (Table
For R1, the low developmental thresholds generated by the Brière-1 model were found to be slightly higher for egg, larva and pupa compared to those estimated by the linear regression model while for R2 the lower developmental thresholds estimated were slightly lower for egg, larva and pupa (Figure
At the egg stage, percentage survival ranged from 76.8 ± 4.3% at 35 °C to 93.8 ± 2.0% at 25 °C in R1 (F = 4.75; d.f. = 5, 24; P = 0.0037) and 80.4 ± 3.2% at 33 °C to 91.8 ± 1.8% at 20 °C (F = 5.17; d.f. = 4, 20; P = 0.0050) in R2 (Table
Mean ± SE survivorship (%) of immature stages of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from Kenya at different constant temperatures.
Temperature(°C) | Egg | Larva | Pupa | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | |
10 | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00d | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c |
15 | 81.6 ± 2.94abA | 87.4 ± 1.50aA | 75.8 ± 2.22bA | 84.6 ± 4.66aA | 90.6 ± 2.09aA | 92.4 ± 2.20aA |
20 | 85.8 ± 2.46abA | 91.8 ± 1.80aA | 80.8 ± 3.88abA | 86.8 ± 3.09aA | 91.6 ± 1.44aA | 95.2 ± 1.16aA |
25 | 93.8 ± 2.01aA | 91.6 ± 1.03aA | 87.6 ± 1.44aA | 83.6 ± 2.29aA | 94.2 ± 1.07aA | 91.4 ± 1.78aA |
30 | 92.2 ± 1.98aA | 89.4 ± 1.99aA | 85.4 ± 2.25abA | 81.8 ± 2.27aA | 81.2 ± 2.89bA | 78.2 ± 3.56bA |
33 | 88.2 ± 3.57abA | 80.4 ± 3.23bA | 78.4 ± 1.29abB | 67.6 ± 1.63bA | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c |
35 | 76.8 ± 4.26bB | 0.00 ± 0.00A | 60.6 ± 2.96cB | 0.00 ± 0.00A | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c |
For R1, survival rate was lowest at 35 °C and highest at 25 °C (F = 13.22; d.f. = 5, 24; P < 0.0001) while for R2, survivorship at larval stage ranged between 67.6 ± 1.6% at 33 °C to 86.8 ± 3.1% at 25 °C (F = 5.19; d.f. = 4, 20; P = 0.0049) (Table
Mean ± SE developmental time (days) of immature stages of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from South Africa at different constant temperatures.
Temperature (°C) | Egg | Larva | Pupa | Total days | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | |
10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
15 | 7.53 ± 0.10aA | 7.40 ± 0.06aA | 17.73 ± 0.19aB | 20.74 ± 0.40aA | 36.56 ± 0.28aA | 36.18 ± 0.29aA | 61.80 ± 0.24aA | 64.72 ± 0.45aB |
20 | 3.22 ± 0.00bA | 3.06 ± 0.00bA | 11.38 ± 0.12bB | 13.63 ± 0.36bA | 17.14 ± 0.36bA | 19.02 ± 0.87bA | 31.75 ± 0.43bA | 35.71 ± 1.06bB |
25 | 2.14 ± 0.01cA | 2.11 ± 0.03dA | 7.59 ± 0.11dB | 8.44 ± 0.12dA | 11.81 ± 0.22cA | 12.09 ± 0.24cA | 21.54 ± 0.20cA | 22.67 ± 0.23cB |
30 | 1.61 ± 0.00eA | 1.60 ± 0.02eA | 7.90 ± 0.03cB | 9.92 ± 0.61cA | 7.53 ± 0.02d | - | 17.04 ± 0.05d | - |
33 | 1.69 ± 0.01eB | 1.99 ± 0.08dA | 5.74 ± 0.06e | 6.73* | - | - | - | - |
35 | 1.88 ± 0.03dA | 2.36 ± 0.03cB | 6.32 ± 0.05f | 7.85 ± 0.00**d | - | - | - | - |
No pupae survived at 10, 33 and 35 °C for both C. rosa groups (Table
Egg: The time required for eggs to hatch ranged from 7.53 ± 0.10 d at 15 °C to 1.69 ± 0.01d at 33 °C (F = 1701.32; d.f. = 5, 44; P < 0.0001) for R1. On the other hand, the egg developmental time of R2 was longest at 15 °C and shortest at 30 °C (F = 742.34; d.f. = 5, 46; P < 0.0001). However, no significant differences in egg developmental duration were observed between the two groups of C. rosa at 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C. The eggs of both C. rosa groups failed to develop at 10 °C.
Larva: At larval stage, developmental duration was generally shorter for R1 compared to R2 at temperatures ranging from 15 °C to 35 °C (Table
Pupa: For R1 no eclosion was observed at 10, 33 and 35 °C while for R2, no eclosion was recorded at 10, 30, 33 and 35 °C. Pupal developmental duration of both R1 (F = 2578.64; d.f. = 3, 12; P < 0.0001) and R2 (F = 495.54; d.f. = 2, 9; P < 0.0001) varied significantly when compared across the tested temperatures. Between the two C. rosa groups, again no significant differences in pupal development were observed at 15, 20 and 25 °C (Table
Egg-adult: Total developmental duration from egg to adult for R1 was longest at 15 °C and shortest at 30 °C. For R2, in contrast, there was no complete development of the immature life stages at 30 °C. Total developmental duration from egg to adult for R2 was longest at 15 °C and shortest at 25 °C. Significant differences were found between the two C. rosa groups when egg to adult developmental durations were compared across all the temperatures (Table
Estimated parameter values of the linear and nonlinear models are presented in Table
Parameter estimates and their approximate standard errors for linear and Brière-1 nonlinear models describing the relationship between temperature and development rate (1/D) of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from South Africa.
Model | Parameters | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egg | Larva | Pupa | Egg | Larva | Pupa | ||
Linear | a | -0.469 | -0.080 | -0.078 | -0.323 | -0.073 | -0.056 |
b | 0.041 | 0.009 | 0.007 | 0.032 | 0.008 | 0.006 | |
K | 24.29 ± 3.29 | 117.12 ± 9.04 | 145.94 ± 14.0 | 31.47 ± 0.89 | 131.34 ± 10.6 | 181.49 ± 9.68 | |
Tmin | 11.39 ± 1.51 | 9.42 ± 0.76 | 11.44 ± 1.19 | 10.18 ± 0.34 | 9.61 ± 0.78 | 10.15 ± 0.57 | |
RSS | 7.8 × 10-3 | 5.4 × 10-5 | 1.2 × 10-4 | 2.0 × 10-4 | 9.4 × 10-5 | 4.3 × 10-6 | |
R2 | 0.931 | 0.982 | 0.973 | 0.997 | 0.981 | 0.994 | |
Brière-1 | Tmin | 12.47 ± 3.11 | 8.99 ± 2.44 | 10.97 ± 4.50 | 9.60 ± 1.65 | 7.74 ± 4.01 | 10.47 ± 1.92 |
Tmax | 36.53 ± 1.05 | 31.86 ± 6.28 | 33.0 ± 0.00 | 36.5 ± 2.64 | 32.57 ± 1.37 | 30.0 ±0.00 | |
Topt | 30.79 | 26.57 | 27.67 | 30.36 | 26.96 | 25.32 | |
R2 | 0.976 | 0.993 | 0.952 | 0.997 | 0.997 | 0.990 |
For the egg, the lowest developmental threshold was estimated to be 11.39 °C for R1 and 10.18 °C for R2. The egg stage required 24.29 DD to complete development in R1 and 31.47 DD in R2. The R1 group required 117.12 DD to develop above a threshold of 9.42 °C from larval stage to the pupal stage while R2 required 131.34 DD to develop above a threshold of 9.61 °C (Table
The low developmental threshold values generated by the Brière-1 model for larva and pupa stages for both C. rosa groups were found to be lower compared to values estimated by the linear regression model (Table
At the egg stage, the percentage survival of R1 (F = 92.63; d.f. = 6, 47; P < 0.0050) was significantly higher compared to that R2 (F = 22.94; d.f. = 6, 49; P = 0.0070) across the temperature range of 15 °C to 35 °C (Table
Mean ± SE survivorship (%) of immature stages of C. rosa R1 and C. rosa R2 from South Africa at different constant temperatures.
Temperature (°C) | Egg | Larva | Pupa | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | C. rosa R1 | C. rosa R2 | |
10 | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00e | 0.00 ± 0.00d | - | - |
15 | 77.00 ± 4.99bA | 54.67 ± 8.74bB | 61.33 ± 4.41bA | 73.67 ± 2.91aA | 84.10 ± 3.91aA | 90.06 ± 1.94aA |
20 | 96.00 ± 2.08aA | 58.00 ± 2.31abB | 61.67 ± 4.06bA | 41.67 ± 1.86bB | 62.71 ± 5.15bA | 69.37 ± 6.47bA |
25 | 90.67 ± 0.99aA | 61.33 ± 1.20abB | 72.67 ± 1.45bA | 23.33 ± 2.85cB | 68.18 ± 8.67bA | 52.38 ± 9.52cA |
30 | 93.22 ± 0.89aA | 75.11 ± 2.23aB | 87.00 ± 2.65aA | 39.33 ± 8.76bB | 68.33 ± 2.73b | 0.00 ± 0.00d |
33 | 79.50 ± 3.48bA | 66.80 ± 3.12abB | 36.33 ± 4.10cA | 0.33 ± 0.33dB | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00d |
35 | 74.00 ± 1.00bA | 57.33 ± 2.92bB | 22.25 ± 3.22dA | 0.80 ± 0.58dB | 0.00 ± 0.00c | 0.00 ± 0.00d |
For R1, percentage survival of the larval stage ranged between 22.25 ± 3.22% at 35 °C to 87.0 ± 2.65% at 30 °C (F = 77.55; d.f. = 6, 25; P < 0.0001), while that for R2 ranged between 0.33 ± 0.33% at 33 °C to 73.67 ± 2.91% at 15 °C (F = 86.56; d.f. = 6, 22; P < 0.0001). For both C. rosa groups, no significant difference in larval survival was observed at 15 °C. However at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 35 °C, percentage larval survival of R1 was significantly higher compared to R2 (Table
For R1, no eclosion was recorded at 10, 33, 35 °C while for R2, no pupa survived at 10, 30, 33 and 35 °C. The highest pupal survival rate for both R1 and R2 was recorded at 15 °C. For R1, the lowest survival rate was recorded at 20 °C, while that of R2 was recorded at 25 °C. Percentage pupal survival of R1 (F = 94.25; d.f. = 5, 18; P < 0.0001) and R2 (F = 145.06; d.f. = 5, 18; P < 0.0001) were significantly different when compared across the test temperatures.
The study on the developmental rates of the two parapatric C. rosa groups across the geographical range of the species in question - Ceratitis rosa showed different trends according to the area of occurrence. In the north eastern limit of C. rosa, R1 was more heat tolerant and less cold tolerant than R2. In the southern limit of the pest, R1 was more heat tolerant compared to R2 but not necessary less cold tolerant than R2.
The reasons for these differences are unclear but nutritional elements of the diet, the biological traits of the two populations and adaptations resulting from the fact that both populations of C. rosa from South Africa were reared for 5–8 generations at similar experimental conditions (25 ±1 °C, 60 ± 10% RH and photoperiod of L12: D12) before the start of the experiment may have contributed to the observed variations. Indeed, populations of tephritids from different geographical regions may differ in various reproductive and life history traits (
The developmental duration of the immature life stages of the two C. rosa groups decreased as temperature increased. This observation is consistent with earlier studies with other tephritid species (
For both the Kenyan and South Africa C. rosa populations, the values for the temperature threshold and thermal constant were not always consistent with previous studies. In La Réunion,
No previous studies are available in literature with regard to upper developmental threshold for C. rosa. However, Brière-1 nonlinear model used in this study predicted that immature stages of R1 were more tolerant to heat than R2 and this irrespective of the area of origin. Observed values clearly showed higher survivorship and faster development for R1 compared to R2 for the South African populations. In non linear models differences seemed were very small. Ceratitis rosa R2 did not complete development at 30 degrees. Lethal temperature values generated here may be relevant for future development regarding post harvest dis-infestation treatments for the two populations of C. rosa.
Both populations of C. rosa from Kenya and South Africa survived at temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 33 °C but no adult emerged from puparia at 10, 33 and 35 °C. In the Kenyan populations, survival of all developmental stages at temperatures other than 10 and 35 °C was > 50% which is consistent with previous studies assessing the effect of constant temperatures on development and survival of tephritids (
In conclusion, our results clearly demonstrates and support the existence of two genetically distinct populations of C. rosa that are divergent in their physiological response to temperature with potential consequent implications in the invasion dynamics of the pest. Difference in parameters measured between the Kenyan and South African populations may reflect certain attributes such as the diet used in the experiments, rearing procedures and adaptation processes of the insects. The findings suggest the need for taxonomic revision of C. rosa but additional information from integrative morphological, molecular, cytogenetic, behavioural and chemoecological data may be needed to accomplish this task.
This research was financially supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), through the CRP on “Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Overcome Constraints to SIT Application and International Trade to the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and by Citrus Research International, South Africa. Early drafts of the manuscript benefited from the useful comments of M. De Meyer (Royal Museum for Central Africa). The assistance of Dr. Daisy Salifu with the statistical analysis of this work is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers whose comments substantially improved the manuscript.