Parasitoids of Fruit-Infesting Tephritidae

Idiobiont ectoparasitoid developing on the pupa inside the host puparium.

Anisopteromalia crassinervis Boucek, 1954
Pachycrepoideus dubius Ashmead, 1904
Pachycrepoideus elongata Delucchi, 1955
Pterosemoidea drosophilae Dodd, 1917
Toxeumella dissimilis Girault & Dodd, 1915
Toxeumopsis nigra Girault, 1915

The species name for Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae is often incorrectly spelled vindemiae because of confusion on the part of Rondani in a subsequent publication.

The species is virtually cosmopolitan, primarily on hosts such as drosophilids. As such, many of the older introductions against tephritid pests may have involved releases into areas where P. vindemmiae already occurred but went undetected because it was not attacking the target pest.

Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae is a generalist parasitoid of a wide range of cyclorrhaphous Diptera and a facultative hyperparasitoid (Van Alphen and Thunissen 1983, Wang and Messing 2004) of many beneficial Hymenoptera. Its tephritid hosts include Anastrepha fraterculus, Anastrepha ludens, Anastrepha obliqua, Anastrepha sororcula, Anastrepha suspensa, Ceratitis capitata, Ceratitis rosa, Dacus ciliatus, Bactrocera cucurbitae, Bactrocera dorsalis, Bactrocera oleae, Bactrocera passiflorae, Myiopardalis pardalina, Rhagoletis cingulata, Rhagoletis fausta, Rhagoletis indifferens, and Terellia fuscicornis (Noyes’ Universal Chalcidoidea Database). Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae, though often mass-reared for release against tephritid pests, is more likely to attack other hosts, such as drosophilids.

Female P. vindemmiae lay their eggs between the pupal body and puparium of tephritid flies, preferably in the late pupal stage. At the time of oviposition, the fly pupae are permanently paralyzed by the venom injected by the female. Wang and Messing (2004) have shown that in hosts multiparasitized with Dirhinus giffardii (another idiobiont ectoparasitoid of fly pupae) and P. vindemmiae, P. vindemmiae consistently dominates the interspecific competition. Regardless of which parasitoid species oviposited in the host initially, D. giffardii larvae experienced the greatest mortality.

Introduced into Hawaii for control of C. capitata and to various localities in the New World against Anastrepha spp. (Purcell 1998); also released in Costa Rica for the control of C. capitata (Ovruski et al. 2000).

In laboratory studies, Wang and Messing (2004) found that P. vindemmiae readily parasitized 4 other tephritid fruit fly parasitoids commonly used in biological control programs Fopius arisanus (Sonan), Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead), Diachasmimorpha kraussii (Fullaway), and Psytallia concolor (Szépligeti)] and, at least in the case of Fopius arisanus, P. vindemmiae did not show a preference for nonparasitized over parasitized tephritid hosts. The offspring of P. vindemmiae faired equally well in small, non-tephritid fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and larger tephritid fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata) with the adult females showing a preference for the smaller host but investing more female offspring on the larger host. The authors caution against the use of P. vindemmiae in traditional biological control applications due to its generalist tendencies and flexible body growth which may lead to an expansion of its host range to include nontarget species, echoing recommendations made by others (e.g. Wharton 1989).