Combined effect of larval and pupal parasitoid use for Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) control.

VAN NIEUWENHOVE, GUIDO ALEJANDRO; BEZDJIAN, LAURA PATRICIA; SCHLISERMAN, PABLO; ALUJA, MARTÍN; OVRUSKI, SERGIO MARCELO

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 95 p. 94 - 102

1049-9644

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) is a serious pest of commercial fruit production in Argentina.Consequently, biological control is being taken into consideration as a key component of ongoing areawidefruit fly management strategies. Two parasitoid species are currently considered for mass productionand augmentative releases against pest species in the genus Anastrepha in the Americas: thebraconid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead), a larval-prepupal koinobiont endoparasitoid, andthe diapriid Coptera haywardi (Ogloblin), a native idiobiont pupal endoparasitoid. The prediction thatthe combined use of D. longicaudata and C. haywardi would be more efficient at suppressing A. fraterculuspopulations than using them individually was tested under natural environmental conditions.Particularly, the efficacy of both parasitoid species to kill their host, the proportion of superparasitismand the effect of intrinsic competition on effectiveness of host control were determined. Females of bothparasitoids were singly and sequentially released inside a field cage. Peaches artificially inoculated withA. fraterculus larvae were exposed to D. longicaudata, whereas A. fraterculus pupae inside Petri dishes wereexposed to C. haywardi. While used separately, effectiveness rates of D. longicaudata and C. haywardi werearound 75% and 56%, respectively. However, the total efficacy increased to 93% when they were usedsequentially. Coptera haywardi was able to attack hosts that had escaped to D. longicaudata parasitism,contributing by around 19% of the total parasitism in A. fraterculus. Both parasitoid species would inducehost mortality through superparasitism. The simultaneous use of both parasitoids in fruit-growingregions for the biological control of A. fraterculus in Argentina is recommended.