Seventeen new species of Anastrepha, primarily from Suriname, French Guiana and Pará, Brazil, are described and illustrated: A. aithogaster Norrbom from Brazil (Pará), French Guiana, and Suriname; A. aliesae Norrbom from Suriname; A. brownsbergiensis Norrbom from Suriname; A. crassaculeus Norrbom & Rodriguez Clavijo from Colombia (Magdalena, Norte de Santander) and Suriname; A. curvivenis Norrbom from Brazil (Amazonas), Ecuador (Zamora-Chinchipe), Peru (San Martín), and Suriname; A. fuscoalata Norrbom from Brazil (Pará), French Guiana, and Suriname; A. gangadini Norrbom from Suriname; A. juxtalanceola Norrbom from Brazil (Pará) and Suriname; A. microstrepha Norrbom from Brazil (Bahia) and Suriname; A. mitaraka Norrbom from French Guiana; A. neptis Norrbom from Brazil (Pará), Ecuador (Orellana), Peru (Loreto) and Suriname; A. sobrina Norrbom from Brazil (Pará), French Guiana, and Suriname; A. surinamensis Norrbom from Suriname; A. tenebrosa Norrbom from Brazil (Pará) and Peru (Loreto); A. triangularis Norrbom from Suriname; A. wachiperi Norrbom from French Guiana and Peru (Cusco); and A. wittiensis Norrbom from Suriname. The following host plant records are reported: A. aithogaster from fruit of Parahancornia fasciculata (Poir.) Benoist (Apocynaceae); A. aliesae from fruit of Passiflora coccinea Aubl. and P. glandulosa Cav. (Passifloraceae); A. crassaculeus from fruit of an undetermined species of Pouteria (Sapotaceae); A. fuscoalata from fruit of Trymatococcus oligandrus (Benoist) Lanj. (Moraceae); A. sobrina from fruit of Eugenia lambertiana DC. (Myrtaceae); and A. wittiensis from fruit of Manilkara bidentata (A. DC.) A. Chev. (Sapotaceae).

Bactrocera carambolae is one of the approximately 100 sibling species of the Bactrocera dorsalis complex and considered to be very closely related to B. dorsalis. Due to their high morphological similarity and overlapping distribution, as well as to their economic impact and quarantine status, the development of reliable markers for species delimitation between the two taxa is of great importance. Here we present the complete mitochondrial genome of B. carambolae sourced from its native range in Malaysia and its invaded territory in Suriname. The mitogenome of B. carambolae presents the typical organization of an insect mitochondrion. Comparisons of the analyzed B. carambolae sequences to all available complete mitochondrial sequences of B. dorsalis revealed several species-specific polymorphic sites. Phylogenetic analysis based on Bactrocera mitogenomes supports that B. carambolae is a differentiated taxon though closely related to B. dorsalis. The present complete mitochondrial sequences of B. carambolae could be used, in the frame of Integrative Taxonomy, for species discrimination and resolution of the phylogenetic relationships within this taxonomically challenging complex, which would facilitate the application of species-specific population suppression strategies, such as the sterile insect technique.

Anastrepha is the most diverse and economically important genus of Tephritidae in the American tropics and subtropics. The striking morphology of the third instars of Anastrepha caballeroi Norrbom, Anastrepha crebra Stone, Anastrepha haplacantha Norrbom & Korytkowski, Anastrepha korytkowskii Norrbom, Anastrepha nolazcoae Norrbom & Korytkowski, and three newly discovered and as yet formally unnamed species (Anastrepha sp. Peru-82, Anastrepha sp. nr. protuberans, and Anastrepha sp. Sur-16), and the more typical morphology of Anastrepha aphelocentema Stone, are described using light and scanning electron microscopy. To contribute to a better understanding of the interspecific and intraspecific variation among species in the mucronota species group and facilitate phylogenetic studies, we integrate molecular and morphological techniques to confirm the identity and describe third instars. Larva-adult associations and the identification of described larvae were confirmed using DNA barcodes. We provide diagnostic characters to distinguish larvae among these nine species of the mucronota group and separate them from those of the 29 other Anastrepha species previously described. We introduce the vertical comb-like processes on the oral margin as a novel character, and the unusual character states, including position and shape of the preoral lobe, and dentate or fringed posterior margins of the oral ridges and accessory plates. Our comparative morphology concurs with most previously inferred phylogenetic relationships within the mucronota group.

We report the results of long-term collecting efforts conducted mainly in the western Amazon region of Peru, and in Bolivia, Ecuador, Suriname, French Guiana, and Panama. Host plant and distribution records are documented for 55 plant species associated with 40 species of Anastrepha Schiner belonging to 15 species groups or unassigned to a group. We document new host records or provide detail for records recently reported in the literature with limited information and also describe the larval feeding modes within the fruit. This contributes to a better understanding of the biology of Anastrepha, facilitates phylogenetic analysis, and develops identification tools for the genus. We provide a synopsis of native host plants by Anastrepha species groups to compare the range of host plants within these groups. We report 25 plant species as hosts for the first time for 22 Anastrepha species and new distribution records for 18 Anastrepha species. We provide photographs of the fruit injury caused by larvae of 31 Anastrepha species. We report two larval feeding modes: 23 species are pulp feeders in 21 native and four exotic host plants, 11 species are seed feeders in 12 native host plants, and four species feed on both pulp and seeds of three native host plants. We report the first host plant record, two species of Sapotaceae, for the speciosa group, which is among the most ancestral clades of Anastrepha. We present and discuss our results in evolutionary terms following the most recently inferred Anastrepha phylogeny.

Prenatal exposure to pesticides and the association with adverse health outcomes have been examined in several studies. However, the characterization of pesticide exposure among Surinamese women during pregnancy has not been assessed. As part of the Caribbean Consortium of Research in Environmental and Occupational Health research program, 214 urine samples were collected from pregnant women living in three regions in Suriname with different agricultural practices: capital Paramaribo, the rice producing district Nickerie, and the tropical rainforest, the Interior. We used isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry to quantify urinary concentrations of biomarkers of three pesticide classes, including phenoxy acid herbicides and organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides, all of which are commonly used in agricultural and residential settings in Suriname. We observed that participants residing in Nickerie had the highest urinary metabolite concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and pyrethroids compared to those from Paramaribo or the Interior. Paramaribo had the highest concentrations of organophosphate metabolites, specifically dialkyl phosphate metabolites. Para-nitrophenol was detected in samples from Paramaribo and the Interior. Samples from Nickerie had higher median urinary pesticide concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (1.06 μg/L), and the following metabolites, 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (1.26 μg/L), 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-hydroxypyrimidine (0.60 μg/L), and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (1.34 μg/L), possibly due to residential use and heavy rice production.

With 325 currently recognized species, Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the largest genus of fruit flies within the American tropics and subtropics. It also includes the most economically important pest species in the region, some that have invaded the US and others that remain serious threats to U.S. agriculture. As part of a large collaborative effort to better understand Anastrepha species diversity and interrelationships and to address the need for new genetic data for integrated identification systems, we developed a new phylogenetic tree of Anastrepha species and species groups from anchored hybrid enrichment phylogenomics to serve as a reference system and diagnostic data resource. We captured and analysed 293 orthologous nuclear loci for 728 Anastrepha individuals representing 237 species, as well as from seven outgroup Tephritidae. These data strongly support the monophyly of most of the previously recognized Anastrepha species groups, while also revealing new support for previously unknown relationships among species, some previously unassigned, and species groups. Our results confirm that the fraterculus cryptic species complex is polyphyletic and delimit 7–8 lineages, not all of which match the current morph concepts. They also suggest that the Mexican morph and Anastrepha zenildae Zucchi are conspecific. Our results provide a useful framework for understanding the history of this major radiation of fruit‐infesting flies and indicate the closest relatives of the pest species to give new perspective on their biology and behaviour. They also provide a large genome‐wide nuclear gene resource for potential use as identification markers and phylogenetic placement loci for pest and non‐pest species and populations.