Comparative adult preference–larval performance relationship between a specialist and a generalist tephritid: Implication for predicting field host‐range

Phytophagous insects differ in their degree of specialization to their host plants. It ranges from monophagous or oligophagous species that can only develop on a single host plant, or family of host plants, to extremely polyphagous species that can develop on plants from many distinct botanical families. The aim of this study was to compare the larval performance and adult preference of a highly generalist species, the Queensland fruit fly (<i>Bactrocera tryoni</i>) and a highly specialist species, the breadfruit fruit fly (<i>B. umbrosa</i>) among several fruits covering both species' host range. (i) larval performance was tested on 16 fruit species, and (ii) a female preference was tested on a subset of five fruit species. In addition, (iii) a field survey was carried out on 11 fruit species. <i>B. umbrosa</i> infested only <i>Artocarpus</i> fruits in the field. Accordingly, <i>B. umbrosa</i> larvae survived and developed only on fruits belonging to the <i>Artocarpu</i>s genus. Female <i>B. umbrosa</i> did not lay their eggs on non-<i>Artocarpus</i> fruits, except <i>Terminalia catappa</i>. Female <i>B. tryoni</i>, on the other hand, made little selection between the fruits tested, and its larvae developed on 13 of the 16 fruit species tested. The larval performance of both species, adjusted when tested by female preference, predicted in large part the fruit infestation in the field. These data are essential to better estimate invasion risk where the species are not established.