Invasive Fruit Flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae) Meet in a Biodiversity Hotspot

Abstract

Oceanic islands’ natural ecosystems worldwide are severely threatened by invasive species. Here we discuss the recent finding of three exotic drosophilids in Madeira archipelago - Acletoxenus formosus (Loew, 1864), Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) and Zaprionus indianus (Gupta, 1970). Drosophila suzukii and Z. indianus are invasive species responsible for severe economic losses in fruit production worldwide and became the dominant drosophilids in several invaded areas menacing native species. We found that these exotic species are relatively widespread in Madeira but, at present, seem to be restricted to human disturbed environments. Finally, we stress the need to define a monitoring program in the short-term to determine population spread and environmental damages inflicted by the two invasive drosophilids, in order to implement a sustainable and effective control management strategy.