ABSTRACT
This review presents data related to facilities worldwide producing sterile fruit flies of economic importance for the application of the sterile insect technique (SIT). The data includes production capacity, types of irradiators and sources, and sterilization doses. Data were mainly compiled from two databases that are kept up to date: (1) DIR-SIT (the World-Wide Directory of SIT Facilities) and, to a lesser extent, (2) IDIDAS (The International Database on Insect Disinfestation and Sterilization). Presently, ten different tephritid species are under production for SIT operational programmes. Facilities producing sterile tephritid fruit flies are leading in terms of the number of sites, with 23 facilities in 16 countries around the world, and the production volume with over 3 billion sterile fruit flies per week. For most tephritid fruit fly species, doses between 80 and 140 Gy are sufficient for producing good-quality sterile flies. The status of the worldwide production and sterilization of tephritid insects provides a global perspective and highlights the importance of the SIT area-wide integrated pest management application for insect pest control.
