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Psyttalia ponerophaga (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) as a potential biological control agent of olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2007

K.R. Sime ,
K.M. Daane ,
A. Kirk ,
J.W. Andrews ,
M.W. Johnson  and
R.H. Messing
K.R. Sime*
Affiliation:
Center for Biological Control, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA
K.M. Daane
Affiliation:
Center for Biological Control, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA
A. Kirk
Affiliation:
USDA – Agriculture Research Service, European Biological Control Laboratory, Montferrier sur Lez, 34988 St Gély Cedex, France
J.W. Andrews
Affiliation:
College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA
M.W. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314, USA
R.H. Messing
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Kauai Agricultural Research Center, 7370-A Kuamoo Road, Kapaa, Kauai, HI 96746, USA
*
*Fax: 510 643 5438 E-mail: ksime@nature.berkeley.edu
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Abstract

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), is a newly invasive, significant threat to California's olive industry. As part of a classical biological control programme, Psyttalia ponerophaga (Silvestri) was imported to California from Pakistan and evaluated in quarantine. Biological parameters that would improve rearing and field-release protocols and permit comparisons to other olive fruit fly biological control agents were measured. Potential barriers to the successful establishment of P. ponerophaga, including the geographic origins of parasitoid and pest populations and constraints imposed by fruit size, were also evaluated as part of this investigation. Under insectary conditions, all larval stages except neonates were acceptable hosts. Provided a choice of host ages, the parasitoids' host-searching and oviposition preferences were a positive function of host age, with most offspring reared from hosts attacked as third instars. Immature developmental time was a negative function of tested temperatures, ranging from 25.5 to 12.4 days at 22 and 30°C, respectively. Evaluation of adult longevity, at constant temperatures ranging from 15 to 34°C, showed that P. ponerophaga had a broad tolerance of temperature, living from 3 to 34 days at 34 and 15°C, respectively. Lifetime fecundity was 18.7±2.8 adult offspring per female, with most eggs deposited within 12 days after adult eclosion. Olive size affected parasitoid performance, with lower parasitism levels on hosts feeding in larger olives. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to field manipulation and selection of parasitoid species for olive fruit fly biological control in California and worldwide.

Keywords

TephritidaeBraconidaebiological controlparasitoid biologyolive

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 97 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 233 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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