Revisão da literatura sobre o gênero Neosilba (Tephritoidea: Lonchaeidae) e a probabilidade de ocorrência em pomares de goiaba

Abstract

Among the dipterans of the Tephritoidea superfamily, the species of the Lonchaeidae family comprise, together with the Tephritidae family, the important group of fruit flies. Thus, some species of this family are considered from the point of view of economic importance, since their larvae can attack fruits, flowers, flower buds and seeds, as with species of the genus Neosilba (Tephritoidea, Lonchaeidae), potential pests of several crops in South America, mainly in Brazil. Therefore, the objective of this work was to contribute to the bioecological knowledge about the genus Neosilba, which is still poorly studied. Thus, a literature review was carried out in order to compile, organize, and discuss the data available in the literature on this genus. Furthermore, in this work, the probability of occurrence of Neosilba spp. in three guava orchards (Psidium guava L.) with different types of vegetation around them (mixed cultivation, native forest and pasture) in order to add data to the literature and open new avenues of studies for the group. For this, this work was organized into two chapters, and in chapter 1 an inventory was prepared on the occurrence record of Neosilba species, as well as data on the geographic distribution, and their host plants. The results of the review of the specific literature revealed the occurrence of Neosilba species in eleven countries of the Neotropical region, associated with 202 species of host plants. In chapter 2, a Bayesian inference approach was used to estimate the probability of occurrence of Neosilba species in guava orchards associated with surrounding environments, in order to investigate a possible influence of environments under the Neosilba community in the guava orchards. A higher probability of occurrence of Neosilba ssp. in commercial orchards surrounded by native forest and pasture. However, the average estimate of occurrence was higher in the orchard associated with pasture compared to the other environments. In the results, the preference of the species for Citrus spp. and their hybrids, being verified in the orchard of mixed cultivation. According to the results contained in this work, it is concluded that the scarcity of specialists in Neosilba is evidenced in many works regarding the diversity of frugivorous flies, since many of them are limit theselves to the identification of Neosilba only at the genus level. However, Neosilba species are an important group because they are distributed throughout the Neotropical region and because they infest a great diversity of native and cultivated fruits. However, this group needs encouragement for the development of studies on its biology, ecology of this taxon, and mainly affects fruit production and commercialization.