Phenology of the apple maggot (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), is an important pest of apples in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The seasonal phenology of adult flight activity was monitored with baited red sphere traps in eight abandoned apple orchards in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina in 2004 and 2005, ranging in elevation from 300 to 853 m. Trap captures showed that at elevations of >/=630 m, the apple maggot was primarly univoltine, with adult activity most intense during a 2-mo period from late June to late August in 2004 and from mid-July to mid-September in 2005.