The temporal changes in the composition of different instars of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), was studied in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, an area located within the European northern limits of the fly's distribution. Field infested ‘;Golden Delicious;’ apples and apples of an unidentified local variety, were collected in autumn 1994, maintained outdoors during the winter of 1994—1995, and regularly monitored for immature stages of Mediterranean fruit fly. No eggs were found alive after the end of November. High incidences of 3rd instars inside fruits, and of fully grown larvae emerging from fruits to pupate, occurred in December—January. In both varieties, mortality and the emergence of the fully grown larvae from fruits reduced the number of living larvae per fruit from ≈5 at the end of November to <1.3 at the end of December and to <0.3 by March. A low percentage (3.1 and 4.4% for the Golden Delicious and local-variety apples, respectively) of 1st instars remained inside the fruits without molting until early March. Second instars were found in high numbers (20—70% of the larval population) from November to March. The results suggest that larvae that molted to the 3rd instar during late autumn to winter pupate and die, but 1st and 2nd instars survive. They are thus the main overwintering stage of C. capitata in northern Greece, yielding small adult populations in the spring. The importance of slow larval growth for successful overwintering is discussed.
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Papadopoulos et al. (1998) studied this question.