Diagnosis

Morphological – adult

Features include:

• Face fulvous with a pair of medium sized oval black spots
• scutum red-brown with pale fuscous patterning posteriorly
• postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow
• mesopleural stripe reaching to or almost to anterior npl. seta dorsally
• medium width parallel sided lateral postsutural vittae ending at or just behind ia. seta
• medial postsutural vitta absent
• scutellum yellow
• legs with all segments entirely fulvous except apices of femora red-brown and hind tibiae pale fuscous to fuscous
• wings with cells bc and c colourless and entirely devoid of microtrichia
• a narrow fuscous costal band confluent with R2+3 and ending at apex of this vein
• a small oval fuscous spot across apex of R4+5
• anal streak reduced to a pale tint within cell cup; supernumerary lobe of medium development
• abdominal terga III-V red-brown with a ‘T’ pattern consisting of a narrow transverse black band across anterior margin of tergum III (this band is often broken in the central region) and a narrow medial longitudinal black band over all three terga (this band is often reduced to a stripe over parts of terga IV and V)
• narrow anterolateral fuscous corners on terga IV and V
• a pair of oval red-brown shining spots on tergum V
• posterior lobe of male surstylus short
• female with apex of aculeus needle shaped (Drew and Romig 2013).

Morphological – larvae

Information not available.

Molecular

Host Range

Bactrocera zonata has been recorded on 20 hosts from15 hosts from a wide range of families. These include: Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, Arecaceae, Caricaceae, Combretaceae, Curcurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Lecythidaceae, Malpighiaceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Punicaceae, Rosaceae, Rutaceae and Tiliaceae (for a full list of recorded hosts see Allwood et al. 1999; Tsuruta et al. 1997).

Major commercial hosts (Allwood et al. 1999):

• Mangifera indica (mango)
• Psidium guajava (guava)
• Prunus persica (peach)

Distribution

ASIA – Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Bangladesh, Myanmar
AFRICA – Mauritius, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Réunion Island
MIDDLE EAST – UAE, Oman, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Israel  (Drew and Romig 2013, Leblanc et al. 2014).

Similar species

Bactrocera zonata is a red brown species that is similar in general appearance to other red-brown species. It is easily distinguished from B. tryoni in having the costal band interrupted beyond apex of R2+3. Similar to B. correcta but has a red-brown scutum (instead of black or partly black). Similar to B. pallida but has an incomplete costal band reduced to an oval apical spot and anal streak restricted to cup. Similar to B. jarvisi but has an incomplete costal band and no joining band between the postpronotal lobe and notopleuron (Drew and Romig 2013).

Pest Status

• Exotic
• In India, Pakistan and now Egypt, it is an important fruit fly pest and causes severe damage to peach, guava and mango

Attractant/Lure

Methyl eugenol