Figure 1.

Schematic diagram of the individual cage and capillary tube used to measure the lifetime daily intake of liquid food and oviposition by C. capitata. The cage consisted of an inverted transparent 400 ml volume plastic drinking cup (12 cm high, 6.5 cm base diameter, and 9 cm top diameter). The bottom part of the cage was the lid of a 9 cm-diameter plastic Petri dish attached to the open large surface of the inverted cup. A lateral 5 × 8 cm window covered with nylon-mesh-screen was perforated on the cup's side for ventilation while a 2 cm-diameter opening was cut on cup's top center serving as an entrance for the adult medflies and a cork was used as a cap. Sugar or protein hydrolysate was provided as a water solution by the capillary tube at the top of the cage whereas solid food was provided in a small container at the base of the cage. Peripherally of the top smaller surface of the inverted plastic cup (2–3 mm from the edge) a hole was made and a cut pipette tip (3 cm height) was set stabilizing the vertically inserted glass capillary tube. The bottom 1 mm end of the capillary projected inside the cage. To decrease evaporation, the top part of the capillary was sealed with a tiny drop of paraffin oil. A 5 cm diameter circular hole was cut in the middle of the petri dish lid forming the base of the cage and a hollowed plastic dome perforated with small holes serving as an oviposition substrate was attached. The petri dish base under the dome contained water and a smaller cylindrical cup filled with 5 ml of fresh orange juice (plus 1% sorbic acid) serving as an oviposition stimulant. The orange juice was replaced every 2 days. Individual cages for males lacked both the oviposition substrate and the orange juice container.