One of the strategies for fruit fly integrated pest management is the refugee maintenance, near the orchards, for fruit fly natural enemies proliferation. With the aim to check the most suitable fruit fly hosts to increment natural control, a correlation was established between the parasitism level and the fruit pulp thickness. Ripening fruits of coffee (Coffea arabica), jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora), cajá-mirim (Spondias lutea), and orange (Citrus aurantium) were collected and maintained in plastic trays over a sand layer. The fruit fly pupae were taken from the sand and put in B.O.D. for adult emergence. The fruit and seed diameter were measure to estimate the fruit pulp thickness. The coffee bean, with 1.8mm of pulp was the fruit fly host with the greatest parasitism level (13.37%). The level of parasitism showed a negative relation with the fruit pulp thickness, and the thin pulp fruits were the most suitable hosts for fruit fly parasitoids proliferation.
insecta; Anastrepha; Ceratitis; biological control; crop trap
