The Baluchistan Melon Fly (Myiopardalis pardalina): Biology, Ecology, and Management Strategies

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202504.0801.v1
• Publication Date: 2025-04-10T00:46:11Z
• Authors: Junyan Liu; Yidie Xu; Mengbo Guo; Kaiyun Fu; Xinhua Ding; Sijia Yu; Xinyi Gu; Wenchao Guo; Jianyu Deng
• Keywords: Melon

The Baluchistan melon fly (Myiopardalis pardalina), a highly invasive tephritid pest, poses critical threat to global cucurbit production, with crop losses exceeding 90% during outbreaks. This review synthesises current research on the pest’s biology, ecology, and management, focusing its severe economic repercussions for key crops—including melon, watermelon, cucumber—across Africa, Asia, Europe. Characterised by life cycle comprising eggs, larvae, pupae, adults, M. pardalina exhibits distinctive morphological adaptations an expanding geographic range, fa-cilitated international trade climate resilience. Its infestations devastate fruit yields, undermining food security destabilising rural economies reliant cultivation. We evaluate diverse control strategies, spanning monitoring quarantine methods, cultural practices, physical interventions, chemical insecticides, biological agents, emerging genetic tools. Emphasising urgency of integrated pest man-agement (IPM), this advocates strategic integration these approaches optimise efficacy, sustainability, scalability. By consolidating fragmented knowledge pinpointing gaps, work establishes framework mitigating pardalina’s impacts, offering actionable insights safeguard agricultural productivity bolster resilience in vulnerable regions.