Parasitoids of Fruit-Infesting Tephritidae

See additional comments under the genus Diachasmimorpha.

Wharton treated angaleti Fullaway, 1952 as a junior synonym of albobalteata (Wharton 1987). The names angaleti and albobalteata had been variously placed in Opius and Biosteres before their transfer to Diachasmimorpha by Wharton (1987).

This species was originally described from Sabah (formerly North Borneo), on the island of Borneo and apparently all material thus far reported from this island come from Sabah. It was introduced to Hawaii under the name angaleti. Although recovered shortly after the releases, there are no records indicating that it has ever become established.

Native hosts need to be confirmed, but this species develops in the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae, as well as B. dorsalis and Ceratitis capitata. Though cultured in large numbers on the melon fly in Hawaii during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s (under the name Opius angaleti), there were continued problems with over-production of males (Clausen et al. 1965). See comments by Waterhouse (1993), who also suggested the host records for melon fly may have been due to forced breeding.