Interaction between ants and the Mediterranean fruit fly: New insights for biological control Orlando Campolo a , Vincenzo Palmeri a,⇑ , Antonino Malacrinò a , Francesca Laudani a , Cristina Castracani b , Alessandra Mori b , Donato A. Grasso b a Dipartimento di AGRARIA, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy b Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/a, 43124 Parma, Italy highlights  We investigated the predatory relationship between C. capitata and T. nigerrimum.  Furthermore we investigated some bio-ethological aspects of C. capitata larva.  About 27% of C. capitata larvae were preyed on by ants on field.  The movement of medfly larvae, as well as olfactory cues, affected prey location.  Mature larvae of C. capitata leave drop from fruit mainly in the early morning. graphical abstract article info Article history: Received 27 March 2015 Accepted 11 June 2015 Available online 19 June 2015 Keywords: Predation Olfactometer Ceratitis capitata Trophic interaction Tapinoma nigerrimum abstract During recent years, the positive role of ants as biological control agents in agro-ecosystems has gained growing interest. We investigated the predatory relationship between Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and the ant Tapinoma nigerrimum (Nylander), commonly widespread in the Mediterranean area. Additionally we investigated some bio-ethological aspects of C. capitata larvae that could be relevant timing factors for predation. Field observations highlighted that C. capitata larvae were preyed on by ants, and laboratory assays suggested that movement of medfly larvae, as well as olfactory cues, affected prey location by T. nigerrimum. Further observations on the circadian activity of C. capitata suggest that mature larvae leave the fruit to pupate in the soil mainly in the early morning, and they can bury faster in moistened soil. These ecological aspects are discussed in the context of sustainable agriculture. Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Insect trophic interactions occurring within terrestrial ecosys- tems constitute a complex network (Weisser and Siemann, 2004; Dyer et al., 2014), so the study of these interactions can provide novel insights and new approaches for the application of biological control strategies and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) pro- grams (Schoonhoven et al., 2005; Smagghe et al., 2012). In most terrestrial habitats, ants are dominant organisms that may estab- lish a complex network of interactions, at every trophic level, with virtually every component of their foodweb (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990, 2009; Ness et al., 2010). Although ants have high species diversity and represent a large fraction of biomass in several ecosystems, their impact and ecolog- ical role have been neglected for several decades (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990). This trend has been reversed in recent years, and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2015.06.004 1049-9644/Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di AGRARIA, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy. E-mail address: vpalmeri@unirc.it (V. Palmeri). Biological Control 90 (2015) 120–127 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ybcon