Bactrocera melastomatos Drew & Hancock and Bactrocera umbrosa (Fabricius) are fruit flies of the subfamily Dacinae under the family Tephritidae [1]. B. melastomatos occurs in India (Andaman Island), Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java) [1] while B. umbrosa is distributed from southern Thailand and Malaysia to New Guinea and New Caledonia [2]. The adult male flies of B. melastomatos are attracted to Cue lure while the adult male flies of B. umbrosa are attracted to methyl eugenol [3]. Fruit flies of Bactrocera melastomatos infest Melastomataceae while those of B. umbrosa infest Moraceae. We compare the diversity of microbiota associated with the wild adult males of these two specialist fruit flies infesting different families of host plants. Targeted 16S rRNA gene (V3-V4 region) was sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Six bacterial phyla (Actinobacteria, Armatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria/Melainabacteria group, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria) were detected at 97% similarity clustering and 0.001% abundance filtering. Four phyla (Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria) were present in all the specimens studied. Proteobacteria was the predominant phylum in both B. melastomatos and B. umbrosa. Enterobacteriaceae was the predominant family in UM B. melastomatos and B. umbrosa, and Orbaceae was the predominant family in Awana B. melastomatos. Klebsiella was the predominant genus in B. umbrosa, Citrobacter in UM B. melastomatos, and Orbus in Awana B. melastomatos. Double Wolbachia infections were present in UM B. melastomatos. In general, the bacterial diversity and richness varied within and between the samples of B. melastomatos and B. umbrosa.
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.