Diagnosis

Morphological – adult

A medium sized species. Features include:

• face fulvous with a pair of large oval black spots
• postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow
• scutum dull black; lateral postsutural vittae present
• medial postsutural vitta absent
• mesopleural stripe extending to anterior npl. seta dorsally
• scutellum yellow
• wing with a narrow fuscous costal band overlapping R2+3 and expanding into a small spot around apex of R4+5, a medium width fuscous anal streak
• cells bc and c colourless; microtrichia in outer corner of cell c only
• all abdominal terga entirely dark orange-brown, posterior lobe of male surstylus short
• female with apex of aculeus trilobed (Drew and Romig 2013).

Morphological – larvae

See White and Elson-Harris 1992 p. 210.

Molecular

Host Range

Bactrocera latifrons has been recorded on hosts from a wide range of families. These include: Lythraceae, Myrtaceae, Oleaceae, Passifloraceae, Punicaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rutaceae, Sapindaceae, Solanaceae and Verbenaceae (for a full list of recorded hosts see Allwood et al. 1999).

Major commercial hosts (Allwood et al. 1999):

• Capsicum annuum (bell pepper)
• Capsicum species (peppers)
• Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)
• Solanum melongena (eggplant)

Distribution

Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, China [Fujian, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Hainan], Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Brunei, its range has expanded through introductions into Hawaii, Japan (Okinawa) (Drew and Romig 2013), Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya (McQuate and Liquido 2013).

Also found in Borneo (Kalimantan), Bangladesh (Leblanc 2014) and Indonesia.

Similar species

Bactrocera latifrons is similar to B. musae but differs in having an expanding costal band, longer parallel sided vittae and apical spots on the femora.

It is similar to B. dorsalis but differs in having an expanding costal band, no markings on the abdomen, and apical spots on the femora. It is similar to B. carambolae but differs in having no markings on the abdomen.

Pest Status

• Exotic
• A pest of Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae throughout its range

Attractant/Lure

Alpha-ionol and cade oil is the best attractant for this species (McQuate and Peck 2001). While it’s not as attractive as cue lure and methyl eugenol are to other species, it is more attractive than protein bait; however some records contradict this (Mziray et al. 2010).