Anastrepha suspensa, known as the Caribbean fruit fly, the Greater Antillean fruit fly, guava fruit fly, or the Caribfly, is a species of tephritid fruit fly. As the names suggest, these flies feed on and develop in a variety of fruits, primarily in the Caribbean. They mainly infest mature to overripe fruits. While thought to have originated in Cuba, the Caribbean fruit fly can now also be found in Florida, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
Anastrepha suspensa is a small brown and yellow fly that is can be distinguished from similar species by the placement of the veins in the wings. This fly is a pest species and has negative agricultural and economic impacts. Due to their ability to travel great distances (over 120 km) and wide range of adaptability, A. suspensa poses risks to any fruit growing country importing fruit from the Caribbean.
Description
The adult fly is between 11 and 14 mm long and may appear yellow, orange, brown, or a combination of the three. The setae, or hairlike structures on insects, are red-brown to dark-brown, causing a darker overall appearance. Similar to other species in Anastrepha, their thorax is primarily yellow to orange-brown with slender bands of color running down the thorax to the scutum. In addition, dark spots may be found on the thorax and wings of the fly. The wings often alternate between bands of yellow-brown and brown bands. It may be possible that the yellow and brown color may be adopted from bees to discourage predators, but no studies have thoroughly examined this form of mimicry. Male and female A. suspensa can easily be distinguished. Female A. suspensa have a prominent ovipositor, which is the organ through which a female insect deposits her eggs. The ovipositor is with serrations near the tip for cutting into fruit. A. suspensa may be distinguished from other similar species of Anastrepha by characteristics of the ovipositor and wings.
Anastrepha suspensa is closely related to Anastrepha ludens and shares many characteristics.
Distribution
As the common name Caribbean fruit fly suggests, A. suspensa has primarily been identified in Caribbean Islands and Central America in countries including the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. A. suspensa has also been found in California and Florida, as well as in French Guiana in South America. Invasive, and doing significant economic harm especially to guava production, in Florida. A. suspensa prefer tropical climates with consistent precipitation. While tropical climates may include anything greater than of precipitation annually to less than , there has been no distinct preference between these subcategories by A. suspensa.
The spread of A. suspensa throughout the globe has largely been attributed to the movement of spoiled fruit that contained A. suspensa larvae The ability to fly long distances also contribute to the spread of this species.
Food resources/hosts
Anastrepha suspensa have been recorded to infest and consume over 100 foods, most of which have been fruits. These fruits are almost always mature, overripe, or spoiled. These flies seem to prefer consumption of guavas, the Cayenne cherry, rose apple, tropical almonds, grapefruit, and oranges. They have also been noted to infest papaya, Natal plum, kumquat, mango, mombin, and an array of cherries. The data shows that the consumption of different fruit may depend on the location of the A. suspensa. Feeds on 84 plant hosts in 23 families in Florida.
Life history
Like all Diptera, A. suspensa undergoes 4 main lifestages: egg, larva (with 3 instars or substages), pupa, and adult.
Egg
Anastrepha suspensa females lay about 200 eggs on the exterior of mature and rotting fruit. The eggs are laid and will hatch in flavedo part of the fruit. A. suspensa eggs are elliptical in shape. The color of these eggs ranges from pale to gleaming white. The anterior end of the egg contains a micropyle, which is an opening for the sperm to enter. On the same end of the egg there is a characteristic polygonal pattern in the surface architecture of the chorion.