Diagnosis

Morphological – adult

Large species. Features include;

• medium sized fuscous to black facial spots present
• postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow
• scutum red-brown with two broad lateral longitudinal fuscous bands, mesopleural stripe reaching almost to anterior npl. seta, lateral postsutural vittae beginning anterior to mesonotal suture, broad medial postsutural vitta present, scutellum yellow
• wing with a broad fuscous costal band and anal streak, an irregular recurved pale fuscous marking across wing, cells bc and c extremely pale fuscous (cell c paler in centre), microtrichia in outer 1/3 of cell c only
• abdominal terga I-V fulvous except for broad lateral fuscous margins on tergum I and a narrow medial longitudinal fuscous band on tergum V
• posterior lobe of male surstylus long
• female with aculeus tip trilobed (Drew 1989; pers. comm. Drew 2010).

Morphological – larvae

Not available.

Molecular

Host Range

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo)(Cucurbitaceae) is the only recorded host (Leblanc et al. 2012).

Major commercial hosts (Drew 1989):

• Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin)

Distribution

Papua New Guinea (New Britain) (Drew 1989).

Similar species

Distinctive in having a medial vitta and recurved pattern on the wings.

Additional information:

Zeugodacus decipiens larvae can co-exist in pumpkin with melon fly larvae (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) but its rate of development is much slower.

Previously known as Bactrocera (Paradacus) decipiens in the Zeugodacus subgenus group until Zeugodacus was elevated to genus level by Virgilio et al. 2015. Now known as Zeugodacus (Paradacus) decipiens. For a full list of Zeugodacus species see DeMeyer et al. 2015.

Pest Status

• Exotic
• A pest of pumpkins in New Britain

Attractant/Lure

No known male attractant. Responds to Ceratrap protein traps placed within pumpkin crops (Royer et al. 2017)