Magda Mofleh1*, Hanan Habak1, Samer Issa1 and Mohammad Al-Allan2
1 General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Lattakia Research Center, Syria.
2 General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Plant Protection Research Administration, Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Magda Mofleh, Email: magda.mofleh@yahoo.com)
Received: 23/ 6/ 2025 Accepted: 7/ 9/ 2025
Abstract:
The cucurbit fruit fly Dacus ciliatus (Loew) is found at various altitudes (5–1100 m) along the Syrian coast where it has recently spread in Syria (2023-2024). It affects several plant families in both protected and open field agriculture and infests several plant hosts (zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, luffa, watermelon, and tomato), with high infection rates observed in both cucumber and zucchini. In some fields, by the end of August, the infection rate reached 100%. The results showed a preference of D. ciliatus for zucchini fruits compared to cucumber, with the average number of larvae per fruit being (20.1 ± 3.8 and 14.8 ± 4.3 larvae/ fruit) respectively, with significant differences. As for life cycle indicators, the average egg incubation period was (1.9 ± 0.5 and 1.8 ± 0.4 days), larval stage duration (7.6 ± 0.7 and 6.5 ± 0.9 days), and pupal stage duration (9.6 ± 1.0 and 7.6 ± 2.0 days) on zucchini and cucumber fruits, respectively. The life cycle from egg until the complete insect emerges from the pupa took (26.7 ± 1.6) days on zucchini at an average temperature of (25±2)°C, and (23 ± 3.2) days on cucumber at (30±2)°C.
Keywords: Lesser cucurbit fly, zucchini, cucumber, life cycle, Syrian coast.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF