Fruit Flies Fauna, Bio-ecology, Economic Importance and Management with an Overview of the Current State of Knowledge in the Sultanate of Oman and the Arabian Peninsula

Fruit fly species are important pests of fruit trees and vegetables.They cause significant economic losses due to the damage they cause to fruit and quarantine regulations preventing fruit export. This review was divided into two sections: a general world summary of the currently available literature on fruit flies and a more focused summary of fruit flies in Oman and neighboring countries of the Arabian Peninsula. The world summary covered the latest available information about fruit flies in terms of their general taxonomy, feeding patterns, life cycle, host plants, natural enemies, economic importance, and management tactics. Information was presented about the most recent management techniques, such as augmentoriums, chemosterilants, Wolbachia caused sterility, and auto-dissemination devices. This review also examined the available information about fruit flies in Oman and the Arabian Peninsula in terms of the fauna, economic species, bioecology, and pest management. Twenty tephritid species are known from Oman, and total number of described species from the Arabian Peninsula is 115, with most of the species belonging to the less economic subfamily Tephritinae. Most of the research works about bioecology and pest management of fruit flies comes from Oman, with only three articles from the rest of Arabia. The available regional literature examined are fruit fly surveys based on sampling of fruits and lure traps, and identifications of fruit fly species, their host plants, and parasitoids. It also included population dynamics of the common peach fruit fly in AlBatinah using lure traps, difference in infestations among fruit types, and a comparison of the effectiveness of different lures and trap designs. Finally, we present a summary of research from Oman and the Arabian Peninsula about insecticide trials and physical barriers (fruit bagging and row covers). Researchers in this region should focus on the less touched aspects alluded to in the general review such as biological control using natural enemies, sterile insect methods including the promising use of chemosterilants, and area-wide integrated pest management.