The Surinam cherry, Eugenia uniflora L. (Myrtaceae), is a native fruit tree of South America and it can be found throughout the Brazilian territory, as well as in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Galls induced by Eugeniamyia dispar (E. dispar) are found on the leaves of these trees. This study aims at determining the parasitoids associated to the E. dispar, the population dynamic of both E. dispar and parasitoids and the plant gall distribution. Branches and leaves were collected every two weeks during the 2007/08 and 2008/09 crops in Surinam cherry orchards situated in the city of Pelotas, state of Rio Grande do Sul, and taken to the laboratory for gall counting. Out of the collected material, ten leaves were isolated per sample into plastic containers (200ml) with 30ml of agar solution (2%) and methylparahydroxybenzoate (nipagin) (0.2%). The containers were closed and kept under temperature-controlled conditions (24±2ºC), relative humidity (70±10%) and photophase (14h). The number of emerged insects was daily reported. As a result, one species of Hymenoptera, Rileya hegeli (Eurytomidae) as a parasitoid of E. dispar was obtained. In relation to the population dynamics of the E. dispar and of the R. hegeli, during two years of evaluation it was noticed that the population of both species had an increase from October, and the largest populations were achieved in December, January and February, and then, decreasing onward. The number of galls per leave varied from zero to 23 and 61.19% of the leaves had one to eight galls. The number of leaves with galls in a branch varied from one to nine, and 63.00% of the branches had one to three infested leaves.
Eugenia uniflora; galling insects; parasitoids; pest insect
