1. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has the greatest diversity of dacine fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) in the world, many of which are significant agricultural pests.
2. Although their taxonomy is relatively well known, there is limited research on their geographical and elevational distribution.
3. We undertook a survey of PNG's fruit fly fauna along a complete elevational gradient on Mt Wilhelm (175–3700 m a.s.l.) to determine the elevational species distribution and turnover of fruit fly communities. Fruit flies were sampled using a selection of male parapheromone lures, including Zingerone, a new and promising male attractant.
4. In total, we collected 10 700 fruit flies representing 77 species. The total abundance and species richness of fruit flies decreased with increasing elevation. Species richness was similarly high at 175 and 200 m a.s.l. (30 and 27 species) and at 700 and 1200 m a.s.l. (16 and 20 species, respectively) but dropped suddenly to only two species at 1700 m a.s.l. and to zero at all four sites above this elevation. There were no flies attracted exclusively to Zingerone. One species (Bactrocera recurrens) exhibited dramatic, temporal changes in abundance during the study period. Fruit fly assemblages were significantly influenced by both the lure type and elevation. Similarity of fruit fly communities decayed linearly with increasing elevational distance.
5. We concluded that the upper limit of fruit fly distribution in PNG occurs between 1700 and 2200 m a.s.l. and the centre of diversity occurs between 0 and 700 m a.s.l.

中文翻译：

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巴布亚新几内亚的雨林中的果蝇（双翅目：蝇科）沿海拔梯度的组合

1. 巴布亚新几内亚（PNG）在世界上具有最多的果蝇实蝇物种（双翅目：蝇科：Dacinae），其中许多是重要的农业害虫。
2. 尽管它们的分类法是众所周知的，但对其地理和海拔分布的研究却很少。
3. 我们对威廉山（175-3700 m asl）上的完整海拔梯度对PNG的果蝇动物群进行了调查，以确定果蝇群落的海拔物种分布和周转。使用一系列雄性信息素诱饵对果蝇进行采样，其中包括Zingerone（一种新的有前途的雄性引诱剂）。
4. 我们总共收集了10700个果蝇，代表77种。果蝇的总丰度和物种丰富度随着海拔的升高而降低。物种丰富度同样很高，分别为175和200 m asl（分别为30和27种）和700和1200 m asl（分别为16和20种），但在1700 m asl时仅突然下降至两个物种，在所有四个地点均降至零。高于这个高度。没有蝇子专门吸引到Zingerone。在研究期间，一种物种（小实蝇（Bactrocera recurrens））表现出急剧的，暂时的变化。诱饵类型和高度都极大地影响了果蝇的组合。果蝇群落的相似度随着海拔距离的增加而线性下降。
5. 我们得出的结论是，PNG中果蝇分布的上限发生在1700至2200 m asl之间，而多样性中心发生在0至700 m asl之间