Predation by the Argentine ant, Iridomyrmex humilis (Mayr), on mature larvae and teneral adult fliesof the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), was studied in the laboratory and on the ground beneath fruit trees in Hawaii. In the laboratory, 50% mortality was reached after a 10-min attack by an average of seven ants per larva. Of the 50 teneral adult flies placed in the ant colony, all were killed by ants. In a field test in Kula, Maui, Hawaii, where mature larvae were dropped onto the ground, larval mortality caused by I. humilis was significantly higher on the south side (3.9%) than on the north side (2.3%) of the trees. when C. capitata pupae were buried in the soil beneath fruit trees, the average mortality of 2,300 teneral adult flies was 38.8%. We infer that most of this mortality was caused by foraging ants.
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Wong et al. (1984) studied this question.