Intraspecific Larval Competition in the Olive Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Olive fruit flies [Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin)] occur at densities in California that can result in intraspecific larval competition within infested fruit. Larval B. oleae densities tracked in the field at six location were found to be highly variable and related to the proportion of fruit infested and adult densities. Egg and larval distribution within the field was generally aggregated early in the season and trended toward random and uniform as the season progressed. To determine whether B. oleae experienced fitness consequences at a range of larval densities observed in the field, olive fruits were infested with one, two, four, and six eggs, and larval and pupal developmental time, pupal weight, and pupal yield were compared. At the highest egg density, all measures of performance were negatively impacted, resulting in fewer and lighter pupae that took longer to pupate and emerge as adults, and even when only two larvae was present per olive, resulting pupae were significantly smaller. Density did not impact the sex ratio of the resulting flies or survive to adults. As field surveys showed, larval densities ranged from 1 to 11 B. oleae per fruit at some sites, and our results suggest that, at high densities, B. oleae do experience competition for larval resources. The impact of intraspecific larval competition North American in field populations of B. oleae is unknown, but the potential for competition is present.