The mobility properties of the Drosophila melanogaster P element in drosophilid and nondrosophilid species has been determined using a P-element mobility assay that is conducted transiently in insect embryos. P elements are mobilizable in all drosophilids tested, including species outside the genus Drosophila but not in the related Tephritidae (order: Diptera), although the P-element gene neces...

Several recombinant antibodies against the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), one of the most important pests in agriculture worldwide, were selected for the first time from a commercial phage display library of human scFv antibodies. The specificity and sensitivity of the selected recombinant antibodies were compared with that of a rabbit polyclonal...

Larval rearing of Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White (Diptera: Tephritidae) on artiÞcial diet is described. The adaptation process for this insect, when moved from whole mango, Mangifera indica L., fruit rearing to artiÞcial diet based on wheat bran, took between three and Þve generations to reach theplateauof quality control parameters observed for rearing the insect onwhole mango fruit...

The interaction between insects and micro-organisms is multifaceted, ranging from pathogenicity to complex mutualistic relations. The increasing number of studies addressing the bacteria-insect interface is gradually revealing the intricacy of these interactions (Bourtzis and Miller 2003, 2009). Until recently, the association between the tephritid fruit flies and bacteria received relatively l...

Mango, Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae), is a crop cultivated pantropically. There are, however, many other Mangifera spp ("mango relatives") which have much more restricted distributions and are poorly known but have potential to produce mango-like fruits in areas where mangoes do not grow well or could be tapped in mango breeding programs. Because of the restricted distribution of many of the...

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is considered a major economic threat in many regions worldwide. To better comprehend flight capacity of B. dorsalis and its physiological basis, a computer-monitored flight mill was used to study flight capacity of B. dorsalis adult females of various ages, and the changes of its flight muscle ultrastructures were stu...