Biological control of tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii with special reference to the newly discovered egg-larval parasitoid, Fopius ceratitivorus (Wharton)
Biological control of tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii with special reference to the newly discovered egg-larval parasitoid, Fopius ceratitivorus (Wharton)
Date
2007-12
Authors
Bokonon-Ganta, Aimé H.
Wang, Xin-geng
Messing, Russell H.
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Hawaiian Entomological Society
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Abstract
Fopius ceratitivorus Wharton is the most recently imported parasitoid for
biological control of tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii. In this paper we summarize current
progress on studies of this parasitoid under quarantine conditions in Hawaii. Tests
on its potential target host range reveal that F. ceratitivorus attacks and completes
its development only in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann).
The three other extant fruit fly pests in Hawaii, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett),
Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) are unsuitable for
F. ceratitivorus development. Competition studies with the well-established and
dominant fruit fly parasitoid, Fopius arisanus (Sonan), showed that either species can
win in intrinsic competition with each other, depending on which one occupies the
host first. In both choice and no-choice tests, F. ceratitivorus was found to cause no
parasitism nor mortality to eggs or larvae of the non-target tephritid Procecidochares
alani Steyskal on infested pamakani weed, Ageratina riparia (Regel); nor the native
Hawaiian tephritid Trupanea dubautia (Bryan) infesting flower heads of the endemic
Asteraceae shrub, Dubautia raillardiodes Hillebrand. These findings suggest that
release of this parasitoid as a biological control agent in Hawaii will pose minimal
non-target risk and may contribute to overall fruit fly biological control in the islands.
The delays due to the regulatory bureaucracy in removing the wasp from quarantine
following host range testing are also discussed.
Description
Keywords
biological control agents,
Ceratitis capitata,
Fopius ceratitivorus,
fruit flies,
host range,
host specificity,
parasitoids,
screening,
Tephritidae
Citation
Bokonon-Ganta AH, Wang X, Messing RH. 2007. Biological control of tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii with special reference to the newly discovered egg-larval parasitoid, Fopius ceratitivorus (Wharton). 39:87-94.
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