SPECIES IDENTIFICATION OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANT ADULT FRUIT FLIES BASED ON DNA BARCODING (MT DNA COI) AND LARVAE BASED ON SPECIES SPECIFIC PRIMERS FROM CENTRAL AND SOUTH PARTS OF BANGLADESH

Bangladesh is an agro-based country. Several vegetables and fruits contribute greatly to the national economy. Fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae) have been a serious threat to agriculture in Bangladesh as well as worldwide. Morphological identification sometimes creates misidentification in adult stages, while in eggs, larvae and pupal stages are totally difficult. Nowadays, molecular identification based on DNA barcoding is an effective and rapid identification tool. However, this technique is very limited use in Bangladesh. In this study, adult samples were collected (trapping with ME and CUE) from three different geographic locations (Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal) of Bangladesh. Adult flies were identified based on DNA barcoding (amplify the sequences with COI gene), and larvae were identified based on species-specific primers. Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Zeugodacus tau (Walker) and Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) were identified adult species found in all the locations, whereas B. dorsalis was found in a higher number. In case of host fly identification on the basis of larvae, B. dorsalis was identified from guava in three locations, indicating guava fruit is the suitable host in Bangladesh. Proper management should be taken to control these pest species; otherwise, they will become a great threat to the agriculture of Bangladesh.