Biocontrol Science and Technology (2011) 21, 1005-1025

Kim A. Hoelmer, Alan A. Kirk, Charles H. Pickett, Kent M. Daane and Marshall W. Johnson (2011)
Prospects for improving biological control of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), with introduced parasitoids (Hymenoptera)
Biocontrol Science and Technology 21 (9), 1005-1025
Abstract: Olive fruit fly is a key pest of olive and consequently a serious threat to olive fruit and oil production throughout the Mediterranean region. With the establishment of Bactrocera oleae in California a decade ago, interest was renewed in classical (introduction) biological control of the pest. Here we discuss the prospects of identifying natural enemies of B. oleae in Africa and Asia that may help reduce B. oleae populations in California and elsewhere. Based on the current understanding of Bactrocera phylogenetics, early opinions that B. oleae originated in Africa or western Asia rather than the Mediterranean region or the Near East are taxonomically and ecologically supportable. Closely related to cultivated olive, the wild olive Olea europaea cuspidata is widely distributed in southern and eastern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and eastwards into Asia as far as southwestern China. Little is known regarding the biology and ecology of B. oleae in Africa and eastern Asia, especially in wild olives. While the diversity of parasitoids of B. oleae in the Mediterranean region is low and unspecialized, a diverse assemblage of parasitoids is known from B. oleae in Africa. Conversely, regions in Asia have remained largely unexplored for B. oleae and its natural enemies.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Kim A. Hoelmer, Kent M. Daane, Alan A. Kirk, Charles H. Pickett, Marshall W. Johnson

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
classical biocontrol/new introduction

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bactrocera oleae