Rearing R.cerasi is not an easy matter. As you surely know, it is a univoltine insect, having an obligatory diapause. In addition, it is oligophagous, develops on sweet cherry and only very few other seasonal fruits. To my knowledge, no reliable artificial diet is available. For these reasons, rearing it is a challenge.
What we usually do, we collect infested cherries, and wait a few days until mature larvae pop out. They pupate almost immediately (a matter of a few hours). The 'pupal stock' shall be kept in cool conditions for about 8-11 months (or longer, if you need them later), in order to undergo the obligatory diapause (a few months), and after that its facultative part, which can be broken any time.
You may contact Dr Heidrun Vogt ([email protected]), with whom I collaborate, for specific advice and, likely, some pupae, which she might be willing to share, provided her current experimental plans permit.
Let me know if I can be of any further assistance,
Thanks a lot for your answer and informations you gave me. I was aware of this challenge after some discussions and literature reading, I hope we can manage to establish a colony in our laboratory.
I will contact Dr Heidrun Vogt and I will ask you in case I need more details later on.
We do the same as Slawomir for cage trials. We collect infested fruits, put them on a grit above fine sand. You can easily sieve out the pupae and store them for next season. Once tried to put adults on artificial medium like D. suzukii, without succes. Maybe with some dedication it is possible, good luck!