Rhagoletis tabellaria (Fitch, 1855)

Yee, W. L., Forbes, A. A. & Feder, J. L., 2020, Eclosion and adult longevity traits of Rhagoletis tabellaria (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Utetes tabellariae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the laboratory, The Canadian Entomologist 152 (2), pp. 145-158 : 147-148

Eclosion of Rhagoletis tabellaria and Utetes tabellariae

In 2016 (for eclosion in 2017), 466 fly puparia were collected (Roslyn, 33; Nile, 376; Montana, 57) from tubs between 10 August and 1 September. Cups containing the puparia and soil were held for 14 days at 22–24 ° C. The cups were then held at 4.82 ± 0.004 °C (mean ± standard error; determined using Hobo data loggers; Onset, Bourne, Massachusetts, United States of America) for 195 days to simulate winter, after which they were transferred to a room held at 23.2 ± 0.01 °C (four-month monitoring period) and 16:8 light-dark hours for adult eclosion. Soil in cups was moistened every 2–4 weeks to keep relative humidity at approximately 100%. Eclosion of adult flies and wasps in each cup was followed daily for 100 days .

In 2018 (for eclosion in 2019), 401 fly puparia were collected (Roslyn, 221; Nile, 174; Montana, 6) from 11 August to 8 September and split into three treatment groups. As before, cups containing the puparia and soil were held for 14 days at approximately 22 °C before chill treatments. One group of 103 puparia (48, 49, and six puparia from Roslyn, Nile, and Montana, respectively) was transferred to and held at 2.73 ± 0.02 °C for 150 days. A second group of 100 puparia (53 and 47 from Roslyn and Nile, respectively) was held at the same temperature for 120 days. A third group of 198 puparia (120 and 78 from Roslyn and Nile, respectively; to detect predicted low eclosion rates, a higher number than in the other two groups was used) was transferred to 20.30 ± 0.01 °C in an incubator, as a no-chill treatment. Puparia were kept in the dark. Postchilling, puparia in 2019 were treated similarly as puparia in 2017, except they were held at 24.3 ± 0.03 °C (mean ± standard error; four-month monitoring period) rather than 23.2 ° C. Eclosion of adult flies and wasps was followed daily for 75 days for the two chill treatment samples and for 200 days for the no-chill puparia. Puparia in the 150-day, 120-day, and no-chill treatments that did not produce eclosed insects were dissected under a microscope 30 days after the last wasp eclosed. Insects inside were classified as a dead pupa (dried or mushy: brown or grey), a live fly pupa (pale yellow, turgid; distinct head) that did not eclose, or a live wasp larva (white, segmented; no distinct head), or a dead adult wasp. Dead fly pupae included ones that had been parasitised .