Ceratitis pedestris

Description

Typical of Ceratitis larvae with the following specific characteristics for the third instar:

Body. Small to medium-sized; body length ~7mm.

Head. Cephalic lobes moderately developed. Stomal organ: Three small, peg-like sensilla; peg sensilla unbranched; other peg-sensilla-like structures absent.

Stomal region: secondary lobes present, short, leaf-like (5 preoral lobes). Number of oral ridges 7. 

Cephalopharyngeal skeleton. Mandibles: subapical teeth absent.

Anterior spiracles. Number of anterior spiracular tubules 15.

Spinules and creeping welts. Dorsal spinules on segments T1-A1.

Posterior spiracles. Slits 3x longer than wide. Dorsal spiracular processes with numerous trunks, radiating from an elongate base. Processes long; dorsal spiracular processes range 9-13; ventral processes range 9-13; lateral processes range 4-6.

Host plants

Family	Genus
Loganiaceae	Strychnos
Solanaceae	Solanum*

Asterisk indicates unconfirmed records, per De Meyer et al. (2002)

Part of plant attacked: fruit.

Biogeographic region and distribution

Afrotropical

Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Madagascar.

Adult taxonomy

Ceratitis (Pardalaspis) pedestris Bezzi
Pardalaspis pedestris Bezzi 1924: 480.—South Africa.
Natal: Durban; Transvaal: Pretoria. ST ♂️♀️ SANC.

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.

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.