Diversity and abundance of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) infesting cucurbit crops in the Morogoro region of Tanzania

Fruit flies represent a significant threat to cucurbit production, inflicting about 30%–100% losses on cucurbit crops. The aim of this study was to characterize the community of fruit flies infesting cucurbit crops in the Morogoro region, Tanzania. We investigated the diversity and abundance of fruit fly species infesting cucumber, watermelon and squash crops across two agroecological zones in the Morogoro region, namely the plateau zone and the mountainous zone. We used three attractants (Cuelure, Zingerone and Biolure), which were deployed for 32 weeks, from May 2020 to November 2021. The collected specimens belonged to three genera, viz., Dacus , Zeugodacus and Bactrocera . Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillet) was the most abundant species (61.73%), while the remaining species constituted 28.92% of the total catch. The plateau zone harboured a significantly higher number of fruit fly species than the mountainous zone. The study confirmed the prevalence of Z. cucurbitae , D. bivittatus (Bigot) and D. punctatifrons Karsch as prominent species in this region. Management programmes should focus on containing these species across agroecological zones and seasons.