Predation of Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae) by Norops serranoi (Reptilia: Polychrotidae): Functional Response and Evasion Ability

The Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha Indens (Loew), is one of the 10 worldwide more important fruit crop pests. Orchards of southeastern Chiapas also shelter the tree-dwelling lizard Norops serranoi (Köhler), which likely prey upon these flies. In standard laboratory conditions, we determined the funct...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental entomology 2014-06, Vol.43 (3), p.706-715
Main Authors: Dor, Ariane, Valle-Mora, Javier, Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Susana Eva, Liedo, Pablo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anastrepha ludens
Animals
BEHAVIOR
Escape Reaction
Female
females
Flight, Animal
Food Chain
fruit flies
functional response models
lizards
Lizards - physiology
logit analysis
Male
males
mass rearing
orchards
plant pests
predation
predator avoidance
Predatory Behavior
quality control
Reptilia
Sex Factors
sterile insect technique
survival
Tephritidae - physiology
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Summary:The Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha Indens (Loew), is one of the 10 worldwide more important fruit crop pests. Orchards of southeastern Chiapas also shelter the tree-dwelling lizard Norops serranoi (Köhler), which likely prey upon these flies. In standard laboratory conditions, we determined the functional response of four male and four female lizards on mass-reared fruit flies. We used a general logistic analysis of proportion of killed prey versus available prey to determine the shape of the functional response. Male lizards showed a type II functional response, while females showed a type III functional response. For the highest fruit fly densities, female lizards caught significantly more fruit flies than males did. The predator evasion ability and the survival of mass-reared and wild fruit flies were compared. Wild fruit flies evaded more male lizard attacks than mass-reared flies. However, when female lizards attacked, there was no significant difference between strains. Fruit flies survival was higher with male than with female lizards, but it did not depend on fruit fly strains. This is the first report of a vertebrate preying on the Mexican fruit fly, demonstrating that female lizards impose a higher predation pressure and are more efficient at capturing wild fruit flies than males. We discuss the implications of our results on mass-rearing and quality control of sterile flies.
ISSN:0046-225X
1938-2936
DOI:10.1603/EN13281