Gallery type spot in the pineapple fruit associated with Melanoma canopilosum Hendel

Abstract

During the year 1992 "fruit spots" were studied at INIA's Chanchamayo Experimental Station. Three types were evidenced, of which two have been largely described and studied in the main pineapple producing areas of the world. They are known as "leathery pocket" and "black spot". However a third type, which we named "spot with galleries", was observed in the Chanchamayo. It is apparently associated with the "pineapple fruit fly" Melanoma canopilosum Hendel, of the Richardiidae family.

Symptoms of this third spot type can be assessed externally in the case of the 'Smooth Cayenne' cultivar, on which mosaic-like discolourations are observed on the peel when the fruit matures.