A New qPCR Assay for the Rapid Diagnosis of Subspecies.

Rapid and accurate identification of subspecies is crucial for effective management and eradication. Current diagnostic methods have limitations in terms of time to diagnosis (up to seven days) and can yield ambiguous results. Here, we present the validation of a custom TaqMan SNP Genotyping Assay for the rapid and accurate identification of (boll weevil) and (thurberia weevil) subspecies.

Exceptional larval morphology of nine species of the species group (Diptera, Tephritidae).

is the most diverse and economically important genus of Tephritidae in the American tropics and subtropics. The striking morphology of the third instars of Norrbom, Stone, Norrbom & Korytkowski, Norrbom, Norrbom & Korytkowski, and three newly discovered and as yet formally unnamed species ( sp. Peru-82, Anastrephasp.

Potential Distribution of Wild Host Plants of the Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis) in the United States and Mexico.

The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) reproduces on a reported 13 species of wild host plants in North America, two in the United States and 12 in Mexico. The distributions of these plants are of economic importance to pest management and provide insight into the evolutionary history and origin of the BW. However, detailed information regarding the distributions of many of these species is lacking.

New species and host plants of Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) primarily from Suriname and Par, Brazil.

Seventeen new species of Anastrepha, primarily from Suriname, French Guiana and Par, Brazil, are described and illustrated: A. aithogaster Norrbom from Brazil (Par), French Guiana, and Suriname; A. aliesae Norrbom from Suriname; A.

Population genomics and phylogeography of the boll weevil, Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in the United States, northern Mexico, and Argentina.

The boll weevil, Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an important pest of commercial cotton across the Americas. In the United States, eradication of this species is complicated by re-infestations of areas where eradication has been previously successful and by the existence of morphologically similar variants that can confound identification efforts. To date, no study has applied a high-throughput sequencing approach to better understand the population genetic structure of the boll weevil.

Worldwide Phylogeography of Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) Using Mitochondrial DNA.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), is one of the most economically important tephritid species worldwide. It has spread across six geographic regions as a result of successful invasions and continues to cause substantial losses to agricultural communities. Our study examined 1,864 flies originating from 150 localities, using mitochondrial DNA sequencing methods.

Range-wide population genomics of the Mexican fruit fly: Toward development of pathway analysis tools.

Recurrently invading pests provide unique challenges for pest management, but also present opportunities to utilize genomics to understand invasion dynamics and inform regulatory management through pathway analysis. In the southern United States, the Mexican fruit fly is such a pest, and its incursions into Texas and California represent major threats to the agricultural systems of those regions. We developed a draft genome assembly for , conducted range-wide population genomics using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing, and then developed and demonstrated a panel of highly differentiated diagnostic SNPs for source determination of intercepted flies in this system.

Identifying Anastrepha (Diptera; Tephritidae) Species Using DNA Barcodes.

Molecular identification of fruit flies in the genus Anastrepha (Diptera; Tephritidae) is important to support plant pest exclusion, suppression, and outbreak eradication. Morphological methods of identification of this economically important genus are often not sufficient to identify species when detected as immature life stages. DNA barcoding a segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene has been proposed as a method to identify pests in the genus.

A New Diagnostic Resource for Strain Identification Based on QTL Mapping.

The Mediterranean fruit fly (Wiedemann) is a destructive agricultural pest and the subject of exclusion efforts in many countries. Suppression and eradication of invasive populations to prevent its establishment is facilitated by the release of sterile males using the sterile insect technique (SIT). In SIT release areas, it is critical to accurately discriminate between released sterile males and wild individuals to detect extremely rare invasive individuals in areas inundated with millions of sterile male flies.

Phylogeographic Structure in Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae) Populations Inferred With mtDNA Sequencing.

Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), the Mexican fruit fly, is a major pest of citrus and mango. It has a wide distribution in Mexico and Central America, with infestations occurring in Texas, California, and Florida with origins believed to have been centered in northeastern Mexico. This research evaluates the utility of a sequence-based approach for two mitochondrial (COI and ND6) gene regions.

Molecular diagnosis of populational variants of Anthonomus grandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in North America.

The utility of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA sequence used for DNA barcoding and a Sequence Characterized Amplified Region for diagnosing boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, variants was evaluated. Maximum likelihood analysis of COI DNA sequences from 154 weevils collected from the United States and Mexico supports previous evidence for limited gene flow between weevil populations on wild cotton and commercial cotton in northern Mexico and southern United States. The wild cotton populations represent a variant of the species called the thurberia weevil, which is not regarded as a significant pest.

Phylogeography of Anastrepha obliqua inferred with mtDNA sequencing.

Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae), the West Indian fruit fly, is a frugivorous pest that occasionally finds its way to commercial growing areas outside its native distribution. It inhabits areas in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean with occasional infestations having occurred in the southern tier states (California, Florida, and Texas) of the United States. This fly is associated with many plant species and is a major pest of mango and plum.

Microsatellite markers reveal population structure and low gene flow among collections of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Asia.

The melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is widespread agricultural pest, and it is known to have the potential to establish invasive populations in various tropical and subtropical areas. Despite the economic risk associated with a putative stable presence of this fly, the population genetics of this pest have remained relatively unexplored in Asia, the main area for distribution of this pest. The goals for this study were to employ nuclear markers to examine geographic collections for population genetic structure and quantify the extent of gene flow within these Southeast Asian and Chinese populations.