First Reported Infestation of a Native Honeysuckle by a native Rhagoletis Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in North America

Abstract

Sympatric host plant shifts have been hypothesized to often be a critical factor initiating population divergence and speciation in specialized frugivorous Diptera in the genus Rhagoletis (e.g., Bush 1992, Feder et al. 2003).  The apple maggot fly Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) is a model organism for host race formation via host plant shifts, but its sibling species Rhagoletis zephyria Snow has not been implicated as having shifted host plants since its evolution from R. pomonella ancestors (Bush 1966, Feder et al. 1999).  Thus far, R. zephyria has been reared only from snowberry, Symphoricarpos spp. (Caprifoliaceae), specifically S. albus var. laevigatus (Fernald) Sidney Fay Blake, S. albus var. albus (L.) Sidney Fay Blake, and S. occidentalis Hooker (Bush 1966, Gavrilovic et al. 2007, Yee and Goughnour 2008).  This includes R. zephyria populations native to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A. that attack native S. albus var. laevigatus (Yee and Goughnour 2008)