New Records of Anastrepha sagittata and A. montei (Diptera: Tephritidae) from Western Mexico

In the Americas south of the United States, there are close to 700 described tephritid species (Foote 1967). Tephritid fruit flies of the genus Anastrepha Schiner are distributed between the parallels 27? North and 350 South (Stone 1942). Most of the 184 known species occur in the tropical areas of Central and South America. Several species have a wide host range and are regarded as the most important native fruit pests (Hernandez-Ortiz & Aluja 1993). In Mexico there are 31 recorded Anastrepha species, but a large proportion of them are reported only in the southeast of the country, mainly in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca (HernAndez-Ortiz 1992, HernandezOrtiz & Aluja 1993). The Apatzingan Valley is located in the state of Michoacan, M6xico, between 18?41'-19?14' latitude and 101?55'-102?54' longitude. The altitude ranges from 300 to 900 m above mean sea level. The climate is hot and dry or semi-dry, and the annual mean temperature is 28?C. The rainy season occurs from June to October and averages 700 mm annually. In this valley populations of fruit flies have been monitored with McPhail traps and food bait continuously since 1987. Prior to this report, the following species had been recorded: Anastrepha bicolor (Stone), A. chiclayae Greene, A. ludens (Loew), A. obliqua (Macquart), A. pallens Coquillett, A. serpentina (Wiedemann) andA. striata Schiner (Miranda 1989). In August 1994, one female and one male of Anastrepha sagittata (Stone) were trapped at the locality of Acahuato (900 m altitude). The specimens were identified by Vicente Hernandez-Ortiz and they are deposited as vouchers in the insect collection of the Instituto de Ecologia A. C. at Jalapa, Veracruz. Previous detections of A. sagittata in Mexico were reported from the state of Morelos only (Fig. 1) (Hernandez-Ortiz 1992). Our report expands the range ofA. sagittata nearly 350 km to the west, over one of the major mountain ranges of the country and very close to the Pacific coast (Fig. 1). Another new record for the state of Michoacan is Anastrepha montei Costa Lima, trapped in the Apatzingan Valley (Fig. 1). Its identity was established by Carlos Estrada and vouchers were deposited in the Medfly Program collection at Metapa, Chiapas. In August and September 1994, we recovered 13 females and 14 males at Paracuaro (650 m altitude), and 6 females and 10 males at Acahuato. This species has been recorded previously in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, on the Pacific coast of Mexico (Hernandez-Ortiz 1992), and in Tamaulipas on the Gulf of M6xico coast (Reyes & Leyva 1989) (Fig. 1). The known range of A. montei is thus extended approximately 300 km westward to a different region which is geographically isolated from the other areas where this species has been recorded in M6xico.