Psyttalia incisi (Silvestri) is the dominant parasitoid against Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) in fruit-producing regions of southern China. Prior to a large-scale release, it is important to generate a sufficient stockpile of P. incisi whilst considering how best to maintain their quality and performance; cold storage is an ideal method to achieve these aims. In this study, the impacts of temperature and storage duration on the developmental parameters of P. incisi pupae at different age intervals were assessed. Then, four of the cold storage protocols were chosen for further evaluating their impacts on the quality parameters of post-storage adults. Results showed that the emergence rate of P. incisi was significantly affected by storage temperature, storage duration, and pupal age interval and their interactions. However, when late-age P. incisi pupae developed at a temperature of 13 °C for 10 or 15 d, no undesirable impacts on dry weight, flight ability, longevity, reproduction parameters of post-storage adults, emergence rate, or the female proportion of progeny were recorded. Our findings demonstrate that cold storage has the potential for enhancing the flexibility and effectiveness of the large-scale production and application of P. incisi.

The invasive pest, Bactrocera tsuneonis (Miyake), has become a significant threat to China’s citrus industry. Predicting the area of potentially suitable habitats for B. tsuneonis is essential for optimizing pest control strategies that mitigate its impact on the citrus industry. Here, existing distribution data for B. tsuneonis, as well as current climate data and projections for four future periods (2021–2040, 2041–2060, 2061–2080, and 2081–2100) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) were obtained. The distribution of B. tsuneonis under current and different climate change scenarios in China was predicted using the optimized MaxEnt model, ArcGIS, and the ENMeval data package. Model accuracy was assessed using ROC curves, and the primary environmental factors influencing the distribution of the pest were identified based on the percent contribution. When the regularization multiplier (RM) was set to 1.5 and the feature combination (FC) was set to LQH, a model with lower complexity was obtained. Under these parameter settings, the mean training AUC was 0.9916, and the mean testing AUC was 0.9854, indicating high predictive performance. The most influential environmental variables limiting the distribution of B. tsuneonis were the Precipitation of Warmest Quarter (Bio18) and Temperature Seasonality (standard deviation ×100) (Bio4). Under current climatic conditions, potentially suitable habitat for B. tsuneonis in China covered an area of 215.9 × 10⁴ km², accounting for 22.49% of the country’s land area. Potentially suitable habitat was primarily concentrated in Central China, South China, and East China. However, under future climatic projections, the area of suitable habitat for B. tsuneonis exhibited varying degrees of expansion. Furthermore, the centroid of the total suitable habitat for this pest gradually shifted westward and northward. These findings suggest that B. tsuneonis will spread to northern and western regions of China under future climate changes. The results of our study indicate that climate change will have a major effect on the invasion of B. tsuneonis and have implications for the development of strategies to control the spread of B. tsuneonis in China.

As a vital pest control strategy, trapping plays an important role in the system of monitoring, catching and killing fruit flies. Cuelure (4-(4-acetoxyphenyl)-2-butanone, CL) is a male lure that attracts Zeugodacus tau and also stimulates feeding in this species. In this study, the attraction of Z. tau to CL and its subsequent feeding behavior were investigated. Under the significant influence of age and time of day, the attraction of CL to Z. tau was found to be optimal when flies were 14 days old, and the number of flies trapped increased with trapping duration. It was determined that consumption can improve the mating success and female adult fertility of Z. tau. After the observation period, the mating success rate of flies that ingested CL was significantly higher than that of the control group and was maintained at a higher level. It was found that parental consumption of CL could accelerate the development of eggs and larvae, resulting in increased pupation and emergence rates. The results of this study will further clarify the dynamic relationship between pest and lure, and provide a research basis for navigating the integrated management of Z. tau in the field.

Zeugodacus tau (Walker) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a pest seriously harmful to Solanaceae crops and was found to oviposit on the pepino melon Solanum muricatum (Aiton). To date, the differences in the ability of the fruits of S. muricatum and other Solanaceae crops to attract gravid Z. tau females have seldom been reported. Oviposition and trapping bioassays were performed to clarify whether such differences existed. A combination of GC-MS and the Y-tube olfactometer system was used to identify and determine the compounds inducing behavioral responses in gravid Z. tau females to the volatile odors of S. muricatum. The results show that S. muricatum odors play a role in attracting gravid Z. tau females. The odors of Solanaceae crops influence their ability to attract these organisms. The nine compounds from the volatiles of S. muricatum induce tendency or repellency responses in gravid Z. tau females. Hexyl acetate, butyl acetate, amyl actate, and isoamyl acetate caused tendency behavior in gravid Z. tau females, while hexyl hexanoate, butyl isovalerate, butyl valerate, and isoamyl hexanoate caused repellency behavior. Heptyl acetate caused repellency behavior in gravid Z. tau females at higher concentrations (5 mg/mL) but caused tendency behavior at a low concentration (0.5 mg/mL). These results suggest that vigilance against the harm caused by Z. tau is required during the cultivation of S. muricatum. The nine compounds of the volatile odors of S. muricatum could help to develop attractants and repellents for gravid Z. tau females. These results are beneficial for preventing Z. tau females from harming S. muricatum, developing attractants and repellents for Z. tau females, and establishing a system of ecological control for Z. tau females.

Cold storage and heat exposure are crucial components of tephritid fruit fly mass-rearing programs, as they influence the development and fitness traits of produced flies. This work investigated the effects of cold storage on the pupal developmental parameters and quality of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) genetic sexing strain (GSS) adults. Furthermore, the impact of short-term thermal exposure on the fecundity of B. dorsalis (GSS) that also underwent pupal cold storage was examined. Our results show that pupal development time, emergence rate, partial emergence rate, flight ability and fecundity were significantly affected by low temperature and pupal age and their interaction. Pupal cold storage did not pose negative impacts on the mating competition and response to methyl eugenol (ME) in the males. In addition, compared with the adults that were subjected to the same pupal storage protocol (five-day-old pupae stored at 13 °C), adult exposure to 41 °C for 1 h showed significant reparative effects on fecundity. In summary, the cold storage procedure of B. dorsalis (GSS) pupae has the potential to improve the flexibility and efficiency of mass-rearing schedules. Furthermore, short-term thermal exposure showed reparative effects on the fecundity costs induced by pupal cold storage in B. dorsalis (GSS).