Data from: Population structure of a global agricultural invasive pest, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Bactrocera dorsalis, the Oriental fruit fly, is one of the world’s most
destructive agricultural insect pests and a major impediment to
international fresh commodity trade. The genetic structuring of the
species across its entire geographic range has never been undertaken,
because under a former taxonomy B. dorsalis was divided into four distinct
taxonomic entities, each with their own, largely non-overlapping,
distributions. Based on the extensive sampling of six a priori groups from
63 locations, genetic and geometric morphometric datasets were generated
to detect macrogeographic population structure, and to determine prior and
current invasion pathways of this species. Weak population structure and
high genetic diversity were detected among Asian populations. Invasive
populations in Africa and Hawaii are inferred to be the result of
separate, single invasions from South Asia; while South Asia is also the
likely source of other Asian populations. The current northward invasion
of B. dorsalis into central China is the result of multiple, repeated
dispersal events, most likely related to fruit trade. Results are
discussed in the context of global quarantine, trade and management of
this pest. The recent expansion of the fly into temperate China, with very
few associated genetic changes, clearly demonstrates the threat posed by
this pest to ecologically similar areas in Europe and North America.