Worldwide Phylogeography of Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) Using Mitochondrial DNA

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), is one of the most economically important tephritid species worldwide. It has spread across six geographic regions as a result of successful invasions and continues to cause substantial losses to agricultural communities. Our study examined 1,864 flies originating from 150 localities, using mitochondrial DNA sequencing methods. We tested for population structure and revealed the genetic diversity for 1,592 specimens gathered from 144 wild fly collections from 46 countries representing the entire geographic range for this species. We also include in this study 272 Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) specimens from four SIT facilities. We recovered 202 haplotypes from the current sampling and updated previously published work to reveal a total of 231 haplotypes for this pest. These data show population structure at and below the regional level for these collections, shedding light on the current demographics for this species. We observed four common haplotypes, seen among 62% of the samples sequenced that have worldwide distribution. Three haplotypes were seen in SIT flies, with one seen as the predominant haplotype. Our work showed that two of the haplotypes were private to SIT flies, not present among wild fly collections. However, a third haplotype common among wild fly collections was also seen in one SIT facility but at a low frequency based on the current sampling. We provide guidance on the interpretation of these methods for the source estimation of current and future infestations.