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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
W BULLETIN No. 1081 1 
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Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER JULY , 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 history . 2 
Seasonal history and occurrence 8 
Power of flight 8 
Page. 
Susceptibility of varieties 8 
Enemies 9 
Control measures 9 
INTRODUCTION. 
The occurrence in 1905 of a newly introduced species of fruit fly 
(Toxotrypcma curvicauda Gerst.) x attacking the papaya (Carica 
papaya L.) in south Florida was the occasion several years later for 
a preliminary investigation and paper on the insect by Knab and 
Yothers. 2 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 and 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. 
1 Dipterous family Trypetidae. 
2 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 
