Observations on the Seasonal Emergence Of fruit Flies on a Kenya Coffee Estate and Studies of the Pest Status of Ceratitis Capitata Wied in Coffee

Abstract

Neither the distribution nor the economic importance of Trypetid flies has been investigated on Kenya coffee estates. Laboratory studies have shown that female Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata Wied Puncture the coffee berry skin with the aid of the ovipositor and deposit eggs inside immature soft beans or under the skin of mature berries (Abasa 1972). The larva feeds on pulp below the skin layer until at maturity it either pupates between the ripe beans or it drops to the ground in the mulch or in the soil to pupate. Larvae that hatch from eggs laid in immature or hardened green berries die before reaching maturity ( McCrae 1956).