Ceratitis anonae
Description
Typical of Ceratitis larvae with the following specific characteristics for the third instar:
Body. Medium-sized; body length 3.8-8.9 mm.
Head. Number of oral ridges 10-11. Accessory plates present, well-developed; parastomal sclerite straight to slightly curved, not hooked apically.
Cephalopharyngeal skeleton. Length 1.16–1.23 mm. Mandibles: mandibular tooth ventrally grooved, with minute subapical mandibular tooth. mandible tip to notch 0.59–0.63 mm, dorsal cornu length 0.43–0.44, ventral cornu length 0.75–0.80 mm; mandible length a 0.20–0.25 mm, mandible length b 0.25–0.26 mm, mandible length c ca. 0.16 mm, mandible height 0.16–0.17 mm; hypopharyngeal sclerite length 0.16–0.18 mm, dorsal arch height 0.29–0.31 mm.
Anterior spiracles. Anterior spiracles convex to flat. Number of anterior spiracular tubules 10-13, closely spaced in a single slightly sinuous row, apical width 0.19–0.24 mm (n = 7).
Spinules and creeping welts. Dorsal spinules on T1-T2 with broken rows of weak, conical spinules on dorsal anterior margin; on T1 the spinulose area encircles the body, while on T2 the ventral spinulose area is separated from that of the dorsum.
Caudal segment (A8) and anal lobes. Anal lobes grooved, posterior portion often larger than anterior portion.
Posterior spiracles. Rimae 0.08–0.09 mm long, ca. 0.025 mm wide; Slits 2.5-3.5x longer than wide. spiracular processes mostly unbranched to mostly branched, base of SP-I and SP-IV narrow, numbers of trunks and tips as follows; I (dorsal) (9-12, 13-21), II (3-6, 6-9), III (4-8, 5-11), IV (ventral) (6-11, 11-16);
Condensed diagnosis from Steck and Ekesi (2015):
Medium-sized muscidiform larvae with mandibular tooth ventrally grooved, with minute subapical mandibular tooth; with 10-11 oral ridges; accessory plates present; petal-like secondary stomal lobes present, sclerotized stomal guards absent; dorsal spinules present on segments T1-T2; anterior spiracles with 10-13 tubules in a single straight to slightly curved or sinuous row; base of anterior spiracle cylindrical, ca. half as wide as apical width; posterior spiracles with rimae ca. 3 times longer than wide; spiracular processes mostly unbranched to mostly branched with narrow bases; caudal ridge present; anal lobes grooved, posterior portion often larger than anterior portion.
Host plants
Highly polyphagous, infesting at least the following families and genera:
| Family | Genus |
| Anacardiaceae | Mangifera, Sclerocarya |
| Annonaceae | Annona, Artaboytrys, Rollinia |
| Cecropiaceae | Myrianthus |
| Combretaceae | Terminalia |
| Dichapetalaceae | Dichapetalum |
| Euphorbiaceae | Drypetes |
| Fabaceae | Cynometra |
| Lauraceae | Persea |
| Malvaceae | Theobroma* |
| Menispermaceae | Tiliacora |
| Moraceae | Antiaris, Artocarpus, Dorstenia, Morus |
| Myrtaceae | Eugenia, Psidium, Syzygium |
| Olacaceae | Strombosia |
| Pandaceae | Panda |
| Rhamnaceae | Ziziphus |
| Rubiaceae | Coffea, Leptactina |
| Rutaceae | Citrus |
| Salicaceae | Dovyalis, Flacourtia, Rawsonia |
| Sapindaceae | Nephelium, Pancovia |
| Sapotaceae | Chrysophyllum, Englerophytum, Mimusops, Pouteria |
| Solanaceae | Solanum |
* Carroll (1998) notes the Theobroma host record is a probable misidentification, but it is included in the newer host lists of De Meyer et al. (2002) and Copeland et al. (2006).
Part of plant attacked: fruit.
Biogeographic region and distribution
Afrotropical
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire,
Tanzania.
Adult taxonomy
Ceratitis (Pterandrus) anonae Graham
Ceratitis anonae Graham 1908: 114.—Ghana. S. Ashanti.
ST ♂️♀️ BMNH.
Ceratitis pennipes Bezzi 1908: 387.—Zaire. Kinshasa; &
Boma. ST ♂️♀️ IRSNB.
References
Carroll, L. E., A. L. Norrbom, M. J. Dallwitz, and F. C. Thompson. 2004 onwards. Pest fruit flies of the world – larvae. Version: 8th December 2006. http://delta-intkey.com.
Copeland, R.S., R. A. Wharton, Q. Luke, M. De Meyer, S. Lux, N. Zenz, P. Machera, and M. Okumu. 2006. Geographic distribution, host fruit, and parasitoids of African fruit fly pests Ceratitis anonae, Ceratitis cosyra, Ceratitis fasciventris, and Ceratitis rosa (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Kenya. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99(2): 261-278.
De Meyer, M., R. S. Copeland, S. A. Lux, M. Mansell, S. Quilici, R. Wharton, I. M. White, and N. J. Zenz. 2002. Annotated check list of host plants for Afrotropical fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) of the genus Ceratitis (No. 27). MRAC; Tervuren, Belgium. 91 p.
Steck, G. J., and S. Ekesi. 2015. Description of third instar larvae of Ceratitis fasciventris, C. anonae, C. rosa(FAR complex) and C. capitata(Diptera, Tephritidae). ZooKeys, (540), 443.
White, I. M. and M. M. Elson-Harris. 1992. Fruit Flies of Economic Significance: Their Identification and Bionomics. International Institute of Entomology, London. xii + 601 p.
