Taxonomy
Valid name:
Bactrocera (
Bactrocera)
moluccensis (Perkins, 1939)
Preferred common name: Maluku fruit fly
Synonyms:
Strumeta moluccensis (original combination in Perkins, 1939)
Dacus moluccensis (subsequent combination in Hardy, 1970)
Morphology-based identification
Bactrocera moluccensis can be identified reliably based on morphology. Spot characters are the wide lateral yellow vittae on the scutum and tinted cells
bc and
c on the wing.
Molecular identification
COI sequence data can be used to reliably identify
B. moluccensis (
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 moluccensis has been recorded from Indonesia, across New Guinea, to the Solomon Islands, and south to the Torres Strait Islands. Its native range is unclear.
Further information
Bactrocera moluccensis is classified as a "category C" pest of Tahitian chestnut (
Inocarpus fagifer) 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 C pest is there defined as "relatively minor oligophagous or specialist fruit or cucurbit pests". Whereas other Dacini that feed on Tahitian chestnut only damage the flesh of the fruit,
B. moluccensis also damages the seed (
Leblanc 2022Leblanc 2022:
Leblanc L, 2022. The dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) of Oceania. Insecta Mundi 948: 1–167. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7300862).
