Population genomics of the melon fly in South East Africa. The first samples processed at RMCA

The melon fruit fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae, Diptera: Tephritidae) is one of the most important pests of cucurbit crops worldwide. Originating from Asia, it was first detected in Mozambique in 2013 in the Northern Province of Cabo Delgado. Since then, this quarantine species has gradually expanded its distribution to the southern part of the country, threatening the agricultural production and revenue of the Mozambiquan farmers.

Over the past few years, the Africa Museum, in collaboration with the Eduardo Mondlane University (Maputo), has been monitoring the range expansion of the melon fly in South East Africa. The project DISPEST_2 (2024-2028), funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation, aims to describe population structures, patterns of connectivity, and routes of invasion of major agricultural pests in South East Africa. In this context, we use genomic tools (Whole Genome Sequencing) to trace the melon fly's introduction routes in Mozambique.

Between September and October 2024, Luis Bota, head of the National Fruit Fly lab in Mozambique and PhD student in DISPEST_2, visited our labs in Tervuren and contributed to the genomic research on the melon fly _2. Luis sorted, archived and processed a large number of African samples of Z. cucurbitae to be used for the genomic analyses. The DNA extracted from these samples was shipped to the sequencing facility for genomic library preparation and High Throughput Sequecing. The analysis of these data will contribute to a better understanding of the routes of introduction of Z. cucurbitae in Mozambique and it will be used to model the risk of invasion of this species in SE Africa.