The municipality of Matinhas, with approximately 1.3 million tangerine trees, is responsible for 90% of the tangerine production in the state of Paraíba. This research was carried out in five geographic regions of Matinhas, where 20 fruits on plant and 20 fruits in soil were collected, with the aim of searching for the frugivorous flies and their levels of infestation in tangerine. The results showed that tangerine is infested by frugivorous flies Ceratitis capitata (Wiedmann, 1824), Neosilba zadolicha (McAlpine e Steyskal) and Neosilba glaberrima (Wiedmann, 1830). The mean infestation index of C. capitata in five regions did not exceed 0.5 pupae fruit-1. The emergence percentage (EP) of C . capitata adults in fruits collected on plant and in soil varied between 14.0% and 54.0% of adults fruit-1. The infestation index for N . zadolicha had variations between 0.4 and 4.3 pupae fruit-1. The data on the emergence percentage (EP) of N . zadolicha varied between 49.9% and 65.9% of adults fruit-1, which made it the most abundant and dominant species, with a high survival rate. N. zadolicha was considered the pest with the highest economic impact to tangerines in Matinhas. The present work is also the first report of the N. zadolicha and N. glaberiima species causing infestation in tangerine fruits in the state of Paraíba.
fruit flies; infestation index; Ceratitis capitata; Neosilba zadolicha; Neosilba glaberrima
