Bactrocera Cucurbitae (Coquillet) (Diptera: Tephritidae): Bionomics and Management Under Sub-himalayan Terai Region of West Bengal, India

Cucurbit is an important and a large group of vegetables that suffer intense insect-pests attack worldwide. Melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.) (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) is the key pest of cucurbits and is geographically distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the world especially in most of the countries of South East Asia. It infest the ultimate economic part, i.e. fruits of the crop and alone can inflict yield loss in different cucurbitaceous vegetables ranging from 30-100% depending upon cucurbit species and the season. The melon fly also poses major threat to global trade. Considering the peculiarity in life history of this dreaded pest, an exhaustive study with regard to its bionomics, behavioural as well as different sanitation techniques for sustainable management have been tried. Seasonal incidence round the year, economic threshold level (ETL) on the basis of fly density as well as pupal density in soil, depth of pupation, fly activity during the day, impact of bio-physical parameters of fruits on fly infestation etc. have been included in this book. The book will be helpful for students, teachers, researchers in the concerned area of study.