Taxonomy
Valid name:
Bactrocera (
Bactrocera)
umbrosa (Fabricius, 1805)
Peferred common name: breadfruit fly
Synonyms:
Dacus umbrosus (original combination in Fabricius, 1805 )
Strumeta umbrosa (subsequent combination in Perkins, 1938)
Strumeta umbrosus (subsequent combination in Perkins, 1937)
Bactrocera fasciatipennis Doleschall, 1856 (junior synonym)
Bactrocera lacerata White & Evenhuis, 1999 (junior synonym)
Dacus diffusus Walker, 1860 (junior synonym)
Chaetodacus diffusus (subsequent combination in Bezzi, 1919)
Dacus fascipennis Wiedemann, 1819 (junior synonym)
Dacus frenchi Froggatt, 1909 (junior synonym)
Bactrocera frenchi (subsequent combination in Bezzi, 1916)
Strumeta frenchi (subsequent combination in Perkins, 1939)
Strumeta conformis Walker, 1856 (junior synonym)
Dacus conformis (subsequent combination in Osten Sacken, 1881)
Morphology-based identification
Bactrocera umbrosa can be identified reliably based on morphology. A spot character is the extensive wing pattern in orange-brown color, which is typically darker in other species with extensive wing patterns.
Molecular identification
COI sequence data can be used to identify
B. umbrosa (
Doorenweerd et al. 2024Doorenweerd et al. 2024:
Doorenweerd C, San Jose M, Leblanc L, Barr N, Geib SM, Chung AYC, Dupuis JR, Ekayanti A, Fiegalan E, Hemachandra KS, Hossain MA, Huang C, Hsu Y, Morris KY, Maryani A. Mustapeng A, Niogret J, Pham TH, Thi Nguyen N, Sirisena UGAI, Todd T, Rubinoff D, 2024. Towards a better future for DNA barcoding: Evaluating monophyly‐ and distance‐based species identification using COI gene fragments of Dacini fruit flies. Molecular Ecology Resources 24: e13987. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13987).
Distribution
Bactrocera umbrosa is widespread in Australasia and Southeast Asia. A genetic study based on mitochondrial genes found a separation into two populations divided by Wallace's line (
Krosch et al. 2018Krosch et al. 2018:
Krosch MN, Schutze MK, Newman J, Strutt F, Bryant LM, McMahon J, Clarke AR, 2018. In the footsteps of Wallace: population structure in the breadfruit fruit fly, Bactrocera umbrosa (F.) (Diptera: Tephritidae), suggests disjunction across the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Austral Entomology 58: 602-613. https://doi.org/10.1111/aen.12375).
Further information
Bactrocera umbrosa is reported as a "category C" pest of breadfruit and jackfruit in
Vargas et al. 2015Vargas et al. 2015:
Vargas RI, Pinero JC, Leblanc L, 2015. An overview of pest species of Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the integration of biopesticides with other biological approaches for their management with a focus on the pacific region. Insects 6: 297–318. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects6020297. A category C pest is there defined as "relatively minor oligophagous or specialist fruit or cucurbit pests". Although breadfruit is not a commercially viable fruit, it is a traditional staple across the South Pacific - this species could also be regarded as a category B pest. Infestations of
B. umbrosa on breadfruit can be severe.
