Preliminary biological aspects of the new recorded parasitoid, Dirhinus luzonesis, (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) of cucurbit fruit fly, Dacus ciliatus (Loew.) and peach fruit fly, Bactorcera (=Dacus) zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Egypt.
Badr-Elsabah A. F., Afia Y. I.
Author Affiliation: Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI), ARC, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 14 : 73-76
Abstract : D. luzonesis (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) and Spalangia afra (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) were recorded for the first time in Egypt as pupal parasitoid species on the cucurbit fruit fly, Dacus ciliatus, collected from infested cucumber, gourd and marrow (Cucurbitaceae) and the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera (=Dacus) zonata, collected from infested mango, peach and guava in Egypt. Preliminary biological studies were carried out on D. luzonesis, which had parasitism rates ranging from 91.67 to 6.67% and from 93.33 to 5.00% on different ages of the pupae of both D. ciliatus and B. zonata, respectively. Preferable age was 12-h-old. Lowest parasitism rate occurred at 72 h age for the pupae of both hosts. Fecundity (measured by parasitism rate) decreased by passing of time from 83.33 to 81.11% when exposed during the 1st day and 22.22 to 12.22% when exposed during the 10th day. Feeding on pure honey showed the longest longevity (145.75±0.96 and 152.75±0.58 days), while the shortest one (2.86±0.15 and 4.25±0.13 days) was recorded when both males and females of the parasitoid were starved.