Data from: Tracking Individual Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae): Wind Effects and Natural Movement

Determining the natural movement parameters of pest insects, such as tephritid fruit flies, is critical to developing models that can be used to increase the effectiveness of control and surveillance strategies. In this study, two experiments were conducted using harmonic radar to track wild-caught male Queensland fruit flies (Qflies), Bactrocera tryoni, a major horticultural pest in Australia. Experiment 1 continuously tracked individual flies which were prodded to induce movement in a high-density papaya field. Experiment 2 was conducted in a field with lower papaya density and tracked flies were allowed to move without disturbance. This latter natural movement experiment showed that Qfly move at a rate of 19 ± 3 m/h. In both experiments, overall and between-tree flight directions were found to be correlated with wind direction while within-tree movement directions were not. Further, the effect of wind direction on fly trajectories varied by step-distance but not strongly with wind speed while step-distance distributions were consistent with Lévy walks. Qfly movements were well fitted by two-state hidden Markov models further supporting the observation that Qflies move differently within (short steps with random direction) and between (longer more directional steps) trees. Data on flight directionality, step-distances, and movement speed determined in this study provide parameters that may help enhance current surveillance, control, and eradication methods, such as optimizing trap placements and pesticide applications, determining release sites for parasitoids, and setting quarantine boundaries after incursions.