UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



|:.^f BULLETIN No. 1081 



s\J^'^wu 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



JUL ¥,1922 



BIOLOGY OF THE PAPAYA FRUIT FLY, TOXOTRY- 

 PANA CURVICAUDA, IN FLORIDA. 



By Aethur C. Mason, Assistant Entomologist, Fruit-Insect Investigations, 

 Bureau of Entomology. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Description and life liistory 2 



Seasonal history and occurrence 8 



Power of flight 8 



Page. 



Susceptibility of Tarieties 8 



Enemies : 9 



Control measures 9 



INTRODUCTION. 



The occurrence in 1905 of a newly introduced species of fruit fly 

 [T oxotrypana curvicauda Gerst.) ^ attacking the papaya {Garica 

 papaya L.) in south Florida was the occasion several years later for 

 a preliminary investigation and paper on the insect by Knab and 

 Yothers.^ Technical descriptions of the insect, together with its dis- 

 tribution and history, are recorded therein, and also some notes 

 on its habits. In recent years the pest has assumed much greater 

 economic proportions, due to the increasing production of the papaya 

 from a commercial standpoint, and also to the spread of the insect 

 over nearly all portions of the State where papayas are grown. 

 Hence a careful study of its biology and control was undertaken by 

 the writer. 



It is the purpose of this bulletin to present an accurate account 

 of the life history ,ind seasonal history of the insect, together with its 

 habits and the factors influencing its development and spread. The 

 methods of control as far as worked out are also given. 



^ Dipterous family Trypetidae. 



= Knab, Frederick, and Yothers, W. W. Papaya fruit fly. In Jour. Agr. Research, 

 vol. 2, No. 6, p. 447-454, pi. 41-42. 1914. Literature cited, p. 453. 

 101920—22 1 



