Bactrocera (Bactrocera) occipitalis (Bezzi)

Drew, R. A. I. & Hancock, D. L., 2022, Biogeography, Speciation and Taxonomy within the genus Bactrocera Macquart with application to the Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) complex of fruit flies (Diptera Tephritidae: Dacinae), Zootaxa 5190 (3), pp. 333-360 : 350

Bactrocera (Bactrocera) occipitalis (Bezzi)

Chaetodacus ferrugineus var. occipitalis Bezzi, 1919: 423 . Lectotype in MCSNM.

Dacus (Strumeta) dorsalis var. occipitalis — Hardy & Adachi, 1954: 166.

Dacus (Strumeta) occipitalis — Hardy, 1974: 39.

Dacus (Bactrocera) occipitalis — Hardy, 1977: 51.

Bactrocera (Bactrocera) occipitalis — Drew & Hancock, 1994: 45; Drew & Romig, 2013: 137.

See Drew & Romig (2013) for comprehensive list of synonyms.

Common Name: Philippine Fruit Fly.

Definition: Face fulvous with a pair of large oval black spots; postpronotal lobes and notopleura yellow; scutum yellow with dark red-brown around lateral and posterior margins and along notopleural suture; broad parallel-sided or subparallel lateral postsutural yellow vittae ending at or behind ia. seta; medial postsutural yellow vitta absent; anepisternal stripe ending midway between anterior margin of notopleuron and anterior npl. seta dorsally; scutellum yellow; legs with femora entirely fulvous, tibiae with fuscous coloration; wing with cells bc and c colourless, microtrichia in outer corner of cell c only; fuscous costal band distinctly overlapping R 2+3 and widening markedly across apex of wing, a narrow fuscous anal streak; supernumerary lobe of medium development; abdominal terga III-V with a narrow transverse black band across anterior margin of tergum III and expanding to cover lateral margins, dark fuscous to black rectangular markings anterolaterally on tergum IV and on anterolateral corners of tergum V (the lateral dark colour patterns can cover the entire lateral margins of tergum IV), a very broad medial longitudinal black band over terga III-V, ceromata on tergum V orange-brown, abdominal sterna dark fuscous.

Distribution: Philippines, Borneo.

Hosts: Host records for B. occipitalis are limited due to a lack of fruit-collecting field surveys in the area of geographic distribution. It has been reared from fruits of three plant families ( Allwood et al., 1999).

Attractant: Methyl eugenol.

Comments: Within the dorsalis complex group of pest species, B. occipitalis is similar to B. carambolae in possessing a broader apex on the costal band and a broad medial longitudinal dark band on abdominal terga IIIV. It differs from B. carambolae in having broader parallel-sided or subparallel lateral postsutural yellow vittae, a broader medial longitudinal black band over abdominal terga III-V, more expansive dark coloration laterally on terga III-V and generally a broader costal band overlapping R 2+3 and widening apically over apex of R 4+5 (see Drew & Romig, 2013 for detailed discussion on comparisons with other species).