Bactrocera oleae

Taxonomy

Valid name: Bactrocera (Daculus) oleae (Rossi, 1790)
Preferred common name: olive fruit fly
Synonyms:
Musca oleae (original combination in Rossi, 1790)
   Brachyopa oleae (subsequent combination in Meigen, 1822)
   Daculus oleae (subsequent combination in Speiser, 1924)
   Dacus oleae (subsequent combination in Meigen, 1830)
   Oscinis oleae (subsequent combination in Latreille, 1804 )
Musca oleae Petagna, 1792 (primary junior homonym)
Musca oleae Gmelin, 1790 (primary junior homonym)
Dacus oleae var. asiatica Silvestri, 1916 (junior synonym)
   Dacus asiaticus (subsequent combination in Bezzi, 1919)
Dacus oleae var. flaviventris Guercio, 1900 (junior synonym)
Dacus oleae var. funesta Guercio, 1900 (junior synonym)
 

Morphology-based identification

Bactrocera oleae can be identified reliably based on morphology. A spot character for this species is the almost clear wing that lacks a costal band and only has a small colored triangle shape towards the apex of vein R2+3. The body coloration can vary from almost complete red/orange, which is more common in Europe and the Middle East, to having extensive black patterns on the scutum and abdomen, which is more common in Asia.

Molecular identification

COI sequence data can be used to reliably identify B. oleae (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

As the name suggests, Bactrocera oleae is a pest of olive and has invaded all areas of the planet where olives are grown commercially. More recent introduction include North America (California) in 1998 and Hawaii in 2019. The native range of B. oleae is the Mediterranean area, and mitochondrial genome data supports multi-regional prehistoric host shifts from wild to cultivated olives (Nardi et al. 2010Nardi et al. 2010:
Nardi F, Carapelli A, Boore JL, Roderick GK, Dallai R, Frati F, 2010. Domestication of olive fly through a multi-regional host shift to cultivated olives: Comparative dating using complete mitochondrial genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57: 678–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2010.08.008)

Further information

Bactrocera oleae is listed as a "category A" pest 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 A pest is defined as "widespread invasive polyphagous generalists or highly destructive specialists that have become established outside of their native range". Bactrocera oleae is in the subgenus Daculus; species in this subgenus are not attracted to male lures.