Everything about The Apple Maggot totally explained
The
apple maggot (
Rhagoletis pomonella), also known as
railroad worm, is a pest of several
fruits, mainly
apples. The adult form of this insect is about 3/16 of an inch long, slightly smaller than a house fly, with a white dot on its thorax and a characteristic black banding shaped like and "F" on its wings. The larva, which is the stage of this insect's life cycle that causes the actual damage to the fruit, is similar to a typical fly larva or maggot. Other "worms," especially the larvae of the
codling moth, that infest the insides of apples are often confused with the apple maggot. Generally speaking, however
caterpillars often feed in the apple’s core while apple maggots feed on the fruit flesh. In infested fruit, the larvae are often difficult to detect due to their pale, cream colour and small body size. The maggot stage has many enemies, including several
braconid wasps:
Utetes canaliculatus,
Diachasmimorpha mellea, and
Diachasma alloeum.
The adult stage lays its
eggs inside the fruit; before the arrival of apples from
Europe, it was found mainly in
hawthorns. The young "worm" that hatches consumes the fruit (rarely will the larva leave the fruit while it's still hanging on the tree), and causes it to bruise and decay and finally drop before ripening. The insect overwinters as a pupa in the soil. It only emerges after
metamorphosis into a relatively defenseless fly. It uses
batesian mimicry as a method of defense - its coloration resembles to the forelegs and pedipalps of a
jumping spider (family
Salticidae). Adults emerge from late June through September, with their peak flight occurring in August.
Evolution
Rhagoletis pomonella is significant evolutionarily in that the race of this species that feeds on apples spontaneously emerged from the
hawthorn feeding race in the 1800 - 1850 AD time frame after apples were introduced into North America. The apple feeding race doesn't now normally feed on hawthorns and the hawthorn feeding race doesn't now normally feed on apples. This constitutes a possible example of an early step towards the emergence of a new species, a case of
sympatric speciation.
Notes and References
Further Information
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