Ceratitis cosyra (Walker)

Ceratitis cosyra is commonly known as the mango fruit fly or marula fruit fly based on its common occurrence in these host plants. Marula is a native African fruit related to mango and sometimes known locally as wild plum. The fly is a serious pest in smallholder and commercial mango across sub-Saharan Africa and has been recorded in Ivory Coast, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where it is more destructive than either the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly; Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)) or the Natal fruit fly (Ceratitis rosa Karsch) (Malio 1979; Labuschagne et al. 1996; Javaid 1979; De Lima 1979; Rendell et al. 1995; Lux et al. 1998). Its impact is growing along with the more widespread commercialization of mango in these countries. Late maturing varieties of mango suffer most in Zambia (Javaid 1986). In Ivory Coast, C. cosyra and Ceratitis anonae Graham are the main pests in guava (N’Guetta 1993). Ceratitis cosyra, as larvae in infested mangoes from Africa, is one of the most commonly intercepted fruit flies in Europe (I. M. White, The Natural History Museum, London, personal communication). Fruit flies known as Ceratitis giffardi Bezzi and Ceratitis sarcocephali (Bezzi) may be the same as C. cosyra, but the taxonomy remains ambiguous (De Meyer 1998).