A polyphagous, tropical insect herbivore shows strong seasonality in age-structure and longevity independent of temperature and host availability.

Bactrocera tryoni is a polyphagous fruit fly that is predicated to have continuous breeding in tropical and subtropical Australia as temperature and hosts are not limiting. Nevertheless, in both rainforest and tropical agricultural systems, the fly shows a distinct seasonal phenology pattern with an autumn decline and a spring emergence. Temperature based population models have limited predictive capacity for this species and so the driver(s) for the observed phenology patterns are unknown.

Age-related changes in the reproductive potential of the Queensland fruit fly.

Despite the known negative impacts of aging on the reproductive potential of many insects, Bactrocera tryoni populations show a rapid increase in abundance from early to late spring when the population is composed of predominantly old individuals. While some aspects of how male and female reproductive potential are influenced by age for this species are known, no study investigates lifelong reproductive potential of either sex. We conducted a whole-of-life study in the laboratory to assess the effect of age and mating-partner age on reproductive potential of B.

Response of Male Queensland Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Host Fruit Odors.

The surveillance and management of Dacini fruit fly pests are commonly split by fly gender: male trapping focuses on the dacine 'male-lures', whereas female trapping focuses on lures based on host-fruit volatiles. Although the males of several Dacini species have been reported to be attracted to host fruit volatiles, the option of using host-fruit traps for males has, to date, been ignored. Males of the cue-lure responsive fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) have been recorded as responding to host-fruit volatile blends, but it is not known how frequently this happens, if it is age-dependent, or the strength of the response relative to cue-lure throughout the year.

Effects of advanced age on olfactory response of male and female Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Olfaction is an essential sensory modality of insects which is known to vary with age. In short-lived insects odour response generally declines rapidly with increasing age, but how increasing age affects the olfactory response of long-lived insects is less known and there may be different life-time patterns of olfactory response. Here, we examine the effect of age on olfactory response and exploratory activity of a long-lived tephritid fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni from sexual maturity (3 weeks) to advanced age (15 weeks).