Silba adipata McAlpine

Presentation      Biology      Living habits      Infestation      Control methods

 


Home > Infestation > Attacks symptoms.

 

Author: François DROUET.
Photographs: François DROUET.
(unless indicated).
All rights reserved.

 

 

Attack symptoms

 

 

 

EXTERNAL SYMPTOMS

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (important falls of immature figs).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 1: important falls of figs in the immature state.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (reddish discoloration).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 2: localized reddish discoloration, spreading gradually.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine) attacks symptoms: larval exit hole.

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 3: larva exit hole.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (larval exit holes)..

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 3: larvae exit holes (second example).

 

Black Fig Fly: larvae exit holes (details).

Black Fig Fly: larvae exit holes (details).

 

Black Fig Fly: larva leaving the fig trough an exit hole it has pierced in the epidermis.

Black Fig Fly exit hole explanation: larva leaving the fig trough an exit hole it has pierced in the epidermis.

 

INTERNAL SYMPTOMS

 

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 4: brownish figs interiors (larvae damage).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 4: brownish figs interiors (larvae damage).

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (larval gallery holes).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 5: larvae galleries holes in the whitish parenchyma, visible in longitudinal section.
(when the larva is well developed, it leaves the central cavity to dig a gallery in the whitish parenchyma).

 

Black Fig Fly attacks symptoms: brownish central cavity and gallery hole in the parenchyma.

Black Fig Fly attacks symptoms 4 and 5: brownish central cavity and gallery hole in the parenchyma.
(galleries holes may not appear if the larvae are not yet enough developed when the fig is opened).

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (larval galleries).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 6: larvae galleries in the whitish parenchyma, meandering under the epidermis.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (larvae).

Black Fig Fly attacks symptom 7: larvae in the fig.

 

SYMPTOMS SPECIFICITY DEPENDING ON THE SKIN COLOR

 

According to my observations, when the small green unripe figs are infested by the Blak Fig Fly, they turn purplish red if they belong to a dark-skinned variety, while they remain entirely green if they belong to a light-skinned variety. Light-skinned and dark-skinned refer to the skin color at the maturity stage (light-skinned: green or yellow; dark-skinned: all the other colors, including bronze).
 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine) : infested fig.

Fig of a dark-skinned variety infested by the Black Fig Fly.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): attack symptoms (fig of a light-skinned variety).

Figs of a light-skinned variety infested by the Black Fig Fly.
Credit: Bernard PEYRE.

 

A SYMPTOM EXCEPTION FOR DARK-SKINNED FIGS

 

Sometimes, in very rare cases (one to two figs in the crop), I can observe exceptions for the dark-skinned varieties: the unripe green fig remains entirely green for a very long period after the egg-laying (including the abandonment of the fig by the larvae, therefore including the appearence of the exit holes). See below examples of such figs belonging to three varieties.
 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): larvae exit holes. The fig remained green.

Breba crop fig of the 'Dauphine' variety, which remained green after the appearance of the larvae exit holes.
Credit: Bernard PEYRE.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): larva exit hole. The fig remained green.

Fig of the  variety 'Grise de la Saint-Jean', which remained green after the appearance of the larva exit hole.

 

Black Fig Fly (Silba adipata McAlpine): larva exit hole. Fig remained green.

Fig of the uniferous variety 'Bourjassote Noire', which remained green after the appearance of the larva exit hole.
Credit: Margaux ALLIX (CIVAMBIO 66).

 

 

Top of the page. Top of page   Back to summary. Summary