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 : 151-153

Adult Rhagoletis tabellaria and Utetes tabellariae longevity

When held at 22.9 °C, male R. tabellaria lived longer on average than female R. tabellaria and both sexes of U. tabellariae , while female flies lived longer than male U. tabellariae (Χ 2 = 78.01; df = 3; P <0.0001) ( Table 2). The longest-lived female fly, male fly, and U. tabellariae (one male and one female) survived 159, 165, and 57 days, respectively. The survivorship curve shape of female flies was concave, while that of male flies was convex ( Fig. 2 ). The per cent female and male flies alive at 25 days did not differ, but the percentages of males alive at 50, 75, 100, 125,

Longevity (days)

R. tabellaria U. tabellariae Temperature for eclosion Females Males Females Males

22.9 °C

52.1 ± 2.4 (163.4b) 83.3 ± 3.3 (248.4a) 37.7 ± 5.5 (125.5bc) 28.7 ± 3.4 (89.4c) n 186 165 13 23

Age-specific mortality rate

Week posteclosion Female flies Male flies Females and males combined 0–1 0.054 0.079 0.139 1–2 0.034 0.007 0.032 2–3 0.024 0.020 0.233 3–4 0.160 0.027 0.174 4–5 0.164 0.014 0.053 5–6 0.145 0.029 0.278 6–7 0.190 0.059 0.231 7–8 0.173 0.024 0.800 8–9 0.104 0.048 1.000 9–10 0.217 0.068 – 10–11 0.170 0.155 – 11–12 0.256 0.054 – 12–13 0.138 0.102 – 13–14 0.320 0.165 – 14–15 0.294 0.182 –

Note: See Materials and methods for details or rearing conditions. Results are reported for mean longevity ± standard error and age-specific mortality 1–15 weeks posteclosion. Within the row for longevity, mean ranks (inside parentheses) followed by a same letter are not significantly different (P> 0.05).

Last wasp died in week 8–9.

and 150 days were greater than those for females ( Fig. 2 ). Age-specific mortality ( Carey et al. 1995) (weekly rather than daily for ease of interpretation) indicated mortality of females was greater than of males throughout most of their life spans ( Table 2).

Per cent of female and male flies alive was greater than that of wasps at 25 days. However, only per cent of male flies alive was greater than that of wasps by 50 days ( Fig. 2 ). Age-specific mortality for U. tabellariae (sexes combined) up to eight weeks posteclosion was relatively high, being> 0.100 for six of eight intervals ( Table 2).

Figures

Fig. 2. Laboratory survivorship of adult female and male Rhagoletis tabellaria and the parasitoid wasp Utetes tabellariae (sexes combined to increase sample size) collected from Washington and Montana, United States of America (three sites). Survivorship percen- tages at 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, and 150 days with the same letter are not significantly different (P> 0.05). Tests of multiple proportions, at 25 days: Χ2 = 24.60; df = 2; P <0.0001; 50 days: Χ2 = 54.40; df = 2; P <0.0001; Test of two proportions (since zero survival for U. tabellariae), at 75 days: Χ2 = 51.07; df = 1; P <0.0001; 100 days: Χ2 = 43.86; df = 1; P <0.0001; 125 days: Χ2 = 15.44; df = 1; P <0.0001; 150 days: Χ2 = 5.52; df = 1; P = 0.0188.