ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes advances in assessing various aspects of food foraging behavior in frugivorous tephritids, placing them into the context of management of fruit fly pests. To manage agricultural pests more effectively it is useful to have a thorough understanding of their foraging behaviors for such vital resources as food, mates, oviposition sites, and shelter. Tephritid flies engage in diurnal foraging bouts daily and throughout adult life to find water and a source of energy. Fruit flies utilizing the second life strategy found in tephritids are also frugivorous, although specialized exploiters of pulpy fruits. Foraging studies are particularly important from an applied point of view where artificial foods, such as used in bait-insecticide sprays or food trap baits, are in competition with the natural foods. The chapter discusses various aspects of the food foraging behavior of tephritid flies that are relevant to life history strategies, trophic relations, and approaches to pest management.
