The control of Anastrepha obliqua includes the sterilization of mass-reared insects grown in isolation in a constantly controlled environment. Through time, laboratory mass-reared colonies may produce flies with lower field performance. To recover the genetic variation and aptitude of mass-reared populations, wild insects are introduced into mass-reared colonies. Our aim in this study was to determine whether the host species from two localities influence the life history traits of A. obliqua. We collected flies as larvae from infested fruits of Spondias purpurea, S. mombin, Mangifera indica cv. ‘piña’, and M. indica cv. ‘coche’ from two localities in Chiapas, Mexico. There were significant differences in the mating competitiveness of males collected from mango cv. ‘coche’ compared with mass-reared males. There were no differences in the mating propensity between flies from the two localities, even in the number of matings, when weight was considered as a covariable. The mass-reared strain showed the earliest age at first oviposition. The locality affected the longevity and oviposition period, and these influenced the birth rate, intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of population increase, mean generation time, and doubling time. According to the demographic parameters, the population of S. mombin would allow artificial colonization in less time, considering that it has a high reproduction rate starting at an early age. Even in the propensity test, it had the highest number of matings. However, males with greater sexual competitiveness and longevity for colonization corresponded to those collected from S. purpurea.

Vertebrate attack accounted for 98.4% of all seed loss during the two months following dispersal. This accounted for, across all habitat types, 94% of Bursera, 76% of Spondias, 37% of Swietenia and 25% of Erythrina seeds artificially dispersed. Bursera, Spondias and Swietenia seeds in early successional habitat suffered significantly greater predation than in either older abandoned (30 y) or mature forest plots. Erythrina showed generally low loss to predation in all plots. Seeds attacked were more often removed from, rather than buried or eaten at, the dispersal site. In young secondary habitats, however, seeds of Bursera and Spondias were more frequently eaten at the site. Seeds dispersed individually rather than in larger aggregations (5, 10) were more likely to survive in mature forest and late secondary habitat. This advantage was lost in Bursera and Swietenia when they were dispersed to younger successional habitats.

At the early seedling stage, recruitment of Bursera and Swietenia was highest in the older secondary habitats. Seedlings of Erythrina showed the lowest overall losses to any of the mortality factors identified during the first two months of establishment. Seeds of forest tree species arriving in secondary habitat were more vulnerable to attack by non-flying vertebrates than in mature forest. Survival of seedlings of these species was most closely related to the moisture-conserving status of the habitat.