Environmental Entomology (1998) 27, 360-365

J. Sivinski, M. Aluja, T. Holler and A. Eitam (1998)
Phenological comparison of two braconid parasitoids of the Caribbean fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Environmental Entomology 27 (2), 360-365
Abstract: Two species of Braconidae, Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) and Doryctobracon areolatus (Zepligeti), commonly, attack the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Leow), in central Florida. There are temporal changes in the relative abundance of the 2 parasitoids, with a temdemcy for D. Iongicaudata to become more common as the fruiting periods of various host trees progress. An exception occurs when D. longicaudata declines relative to D. areolatus during the late-autumn and winter fruiting of the citrus fruit calamundin, X Citrofortuella mitis J. Ingram and H.E. Moore. During the year there is a spring rise and then an autumn decline in the relative abundance of D. longicaudata. This pattern is not explained by any within-tree changes in fruit size or host larval densities. Many changes in relative abundance are consistent with D. areolatus being superior to D. longicaudata in finding host patches, but inferior at exploiting hosts (counter-balanced competition). Seasonal changes in maximum temperatures are also correlated to changes in the relative abundance of D. longicaudata to D. areolatus. It appears that the outcome of the competition between the 2 species is influenced by climatic conditions.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): John M. Sivinski, Martín Aluja

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anastrepha suspensa	Citrus (genus)	U.S.A. (SE)
Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (parasitoid)	Anastrepha suspensa	Citrus (genus)	U.S.A. (SE)
Doryctobracon areolatus (parasitoid)	Anastrepha suspensa	Citrus (genus)	U.S.A. (SE)