Drosophila suzuki: Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae): analysis of experimental conditions for its rearing and study in the laboratory

Abstract

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is an invasive pest species that uses a wide variety of commercial fruit as a breeding and feeding resource. The damage to the fruit generated by D. suzukii´ oviposition causes considerable economic losses. Therefore, the maintenance of D. suzukii in the lab conditions constitutes a fundamental tool for research proposal. Two of the determining factors affecting the lab rearing conditions are the culture medium and density. In this study, we evaluated the impact of these factors on three components associated with fitness: development time, larval-adult viability and body size, comparing the effects of three culture media: cornmeal (polenta), mashed potato and plum when the flies were reared at three densities: 10, 30 and 50 larvae per 5ml of culture medium. Our results revealed that the flies reared the cornmeal culture medium and at lower densities provide the better conditions for the maintenance of D. suzukii under lab conditions.