Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(11): 971-977 971 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.911.115 Seasonal Incidence of Fruit Fly (Zeugodacus tau) in Cucurbit Ecosystem in Tripura Navendu Nair 1* , Prasenjit Pal 2 and Dilip Nath 3 1 Department of Agriculture Entomology, College of Agriculture, Tripura, India 2 Department of Extension and Social Sciences, College of Fisheries, CAU, Tripura, India 3 Department of Zoology, Holy Cross College, Tripura, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Zeugodacus tau (Walker) (Diptera: Tephritidae), a quarantine pest of international concern, has become widespread and economically important in South and Southeast Asia (Li et al, 2020). This insect species attacks more than 50 economically important crop species, especially cucurbitaceous plants and other fleshy fruits (Allwood et al., 1999; Kapoor, 2005/ 6 and Singh et al., 2010). According to Drew and Romig (2013) this fruit fly species has been reported to infest fruits of nine plant families, primarily species of Cucurbitaceae. In Tripura it coexists with Z. cucurbitae in Cucurbit ecosystem and causes enormous losses to all kind of commonly grown cucurbitaceous crops (Nair et al, 2017). Like B cucurbitae, males are attracted to the para pheromone cue-lure [4 (P-acetoxyphenyl-2- butanone)]. Monitoring of pest population is necessary for formulating effective management strategies against any pest. Though enough works on seasonal incidence of Z. cucurbitae have been done so far throughout India but available information regarding this aspect for Z. tau is comparatively very less. Moreover, seasonal incidence of any pest may vary from place to International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 11 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Fruit fly (Zeugodacus tau) is one of the most destructive pests which cause extensive damage to cucurbitaceous crops in Tripura as well as many other states of India. The present study of two years duration was carried out to investigate the seasonal incidence of adult males of Z. tau in relation to abiotic factors. The study was carried out in cucurbit ecosystem in Tripura from July, 2015 to June, 2017. Para- pheromone lure (cue-lure) baited traps were used for catching male fruit flies. The population of male fruit flies showed almost similar fluctuation during the study period with two peaks in end of March to April and September-October. The numbers of fruit flies captured in cue lure baited traps correlated positively with temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. Maximum temperature and minimum temperature have significant influence on Z. tau population. Keywords Zeugodacus tau, Fruit fly, Cucurbits, Seasonal incidence, Tripura Accepted: 10 October 2020 Available Online: 10 November 2020 Article Info