Abstract

Carpomyia vesuviana Costa (Tephritidae: Diptera) is a serious pest of Ber (Zizyphus spp.), rendering upto 80% fruits unfit for human consumption during its peak period of activity and thus giving a set back to the orchardists in Madhya Pradesh. The fly derives its specific name from the fact that it was first discovered on the slopes of Mount Vesuviana damaging Zizyphus sativa in Italy. Fletcher (1917) reported this pest damaging Z. jububa in India. The biology and control of this pest have been reported mainly from South India and North-West India (Cherian & Sundaram, 1940, 1941; Shah et al., 1948; Basha, 1952; Pruthi & Batra, 1960, Narayanan & Batra, 1960). Syed and Qureshi (1961) reported some parasites of the pest from West Pakistan. Since scanty inform- ation is available on the incidence and almost nil on varietal preference, these aspects along with biology were studied at Gwalior, Rewa and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh for about four years i.c.. 1955-57 to 1958-59 and 1963-64. The results are reported in this paper.

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