Taxonomy
Valid name: Bactrocera (Bactrocera) ochroma Drew & Romig, 2013
Preferred common name: pale-belly fruit fly
Synonyms: None
Valid name: Bactrocera (Bactrocera) bancroftii (Tryon, 1927)
Preferred common name: Bancroft's fruit fly
Synonyms:
Chaetodacus bancroftii (original combination in Tryon, 1927)
Strumeta bancroftii (subsequent combination in Perkins, 1937)
The Southeast Asian Bactrocera ochroma is mixed with the Australian B. bancroftii in the COI tree of Doorenweerd et al. (2024)Doorenweerd 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; they may be synonymous, but this requires further taxonomic study that includes genomic data.
Morphology-based identification
Bactrocera ochroma is distinguished from
B. bancroftii by having a ('
dorsalis-like') black 'T' shape on the abdomen, which in
B. bancroftii is reduced to a thin central line or completely absent, and
B. bancroftii has a distal red-brown mark on the scutellum.
Bactrocera ochroma is very similar to
B. dorsalis and can only be distinguished by its pale colored sternite plates 3–5, which are orange to dark brown in
B. dorsalis.
Molecular identification
Bactrocera ochroma COI sequences are mixed with
B. bancroftii in
Doorenweerd et al. (2024)Doorenweerd 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, but COI can be used to narrow the selection of species to this pair.
Distribution
Bactrocera ochroma is easily mistaken for
B. dorsalis, and its host and geographic range have been underestimated as a result. Historically,
B. ochroma was only known from Indonesia, but recent studies have shown it is at least also present in China, Laos, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea (e.g.,
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). If proven that
B. ochroma and
B. bancroftii are synonyms, this would be a widespread pest species across Southeast Asia into Australia, and its pest status would need to be revised.
Further information
Bactrocera ochroma and
B. bancroftii are reported as a "category D" pests in
Vargas et al. (2015)Vargas 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 D pest is there defined as "species that have been occasionally bred from commercial/edible fruit or cucurbits".
Bactrocera ochroma has been reared from mango in Indonesia;
B. bancroftii is a pest of mulberry in Australia.
