NATIVE PARASITOIDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GENUS ANASTREPHA (DIPT, TEPHRITIDAE) IN LOS-TUXTLAS, VERACRUZ, MEXICO

Abstract

In this paper we record the native parasitoids associated with Anastrepha fruit flies collected in a native tropical community from Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. A total of 1600 puparia of Anastrepha were recovered from infested fruits of ten different host plants. From these puparia we obtained 218 Hymenopteran parasitoids representing the following species: Doryctobracon areolatus (Szepligeti), Utetes (Bracanastrepha) aff. ananstrephae (Viereck), Doryctobracon crawfordi (Viereck), Opius hirtus (Fischer), Microcrasis n, sp., Nealiolus n. sp. (all Braconidae)

Odontosema n. sp. and Lopheucoila sp, (Cynipidae). The most abundant and frequently encountered parasitoid species observed during this study was D. areolatus, representing 59.2 % of all recovered parasitoids. The analysis of different infestation rates in fruits regarding to degree of parasitization in these Anastrepha species suggest they are not cell-elated, meanwhile some host plant characteristics such as fruit size, could play an important role in influencing rates of parasitization.