Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Tephritidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Diptera Genus Ceratitis | |
Similar Ceratitis, Melon fly, Anastrepha ludens, South american fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni | ||
Ceratitis rosa, the Natal fruit fly or Natal fly, a species from the family Tephritidae of the order Diptera, is a fruit fly. It was described in 1887 from specimens of Delagoa Bay, Mozambique.
Contents
Morphology
Adult flies grow up to 4 to 7 mm long and usually have banded wings, with yellow and black patterns.
Distribution
The polyphagous African species known distribution is mainly southern and eastern Africa especially in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of South Africa (KwaZulu Natal), Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zimbabwe, and the islands of Mauritius and Reunion.
Host
In various regions of Africa, the pest is observed in over 100 species, of which, it is mostly found affecting arabica coffee, mango, papaya, guava and custard apple.