First record of the fruit fly parasitoid Doryctobracon crawfordi (Viereck) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Brazil

SCIENTIFIC NOTE

First record of the fruit fly parasitoid Doryctobracon crawfordi (Viereck) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Brazil

RA Zucchi^I; CF Marinho^I; RA Silva^II

^IDepto de Entomologia e Acarologia, Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz", USP, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil

^IIEmbrapa Amapá, Macapá, AP, Brasil

^{Correspondence}

ABSTRACT

Doryctobracon crawfordi (Viereck) was recorded in the states of Amapá and Roraima, Brazil. This is also the first time that this parasitoid is associated with Anastrepha atrigona Hendel from Geissospermum argenteum.

Keywords: Amapá, Anastrepha atrigona, Anastrepha serpentina, host plant, Opiinae, Roraima

Only three out of nine species of Doryctobracon which parasitize fruit flies have been recorded in Brazil, namely D. areolatus (Szépligeti), D. brasiliensis (Szépligeti) and D. fluminensis (Lima) (Canal & Zucchi 2000). However, from fruit fly surveys carried out in the Brazilian states of Amapá and Roraima, a fourth representative of the genus, Doryctobracon crawfordi (Viereck), was collected. This species was identified using the taxonomic keys to species of Doryctobracon by Wharton (n.d.).

Doryctobracon crawfordi differs from D. areolatus by having a non-areolated propodeum, and from D. brasiliensis by having the stigma of the forewing dark. Furthermore, it may be confused with D. trinidadensis (Gahan), which has also a black head and a mesosoma that is usually orange or reddish-orange, but this species is known only from Trinidad (Wharton & Marsh 1978, Wharton, n.d.).

Doryctobracon crawfordi, together with D. areolatus, is one of the two most commonly surveyed parasitoids of fruit-infesting flies in the Neotropical region (Wharton n.d.). It has been reared from seven Anastrepha species from eight host plants (Ovruski et al 2000) and is widely distributed, ranging from the central part of Mexico to Argentina (the southernmost record) (Ovruski et al 2005). However, despite of numerous surveys on parasitoids of tephritids carried out in most of the Brazilian states since 1995, and recently in the states of the Brazilian Amazon (Marinho et al 2011), our data revealed that D. crawfordi is limited to the northern parts of the country as no specimens of this parasitoid have been collected in any other region.

Material studied. Brazil. State of Amapá: Laranjal do Jari (00°47'26,4"S 52°27'2,6"W), from Anastrepha atrigona Hendel on quina (Geissospermum argenteum, Apocynaceae), one male, iv.2006. State of Roraima: Pacaraima (04°29'19.2"N 61°07'51.8"W), from Anastrepha serpentina (Wied.) on abiu (Pouteria caimito, Sapotaceae), nine males and four females, ix.2008. Amajari (03°45'20.5"N 61°42'59.2"W), from larvae of Anastrepha on abiu, araçá (Psidium guineense, Myrtaceae) and from one species of Melastomataceae, 13 males and 11 females, iv.2009. Voucher specimens are deposited at the collection of the Departmento de Entomologia e Acarologia, Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, and at the insect collection of the Embrapa Amapá, Macapá, AP, Brazil.

Acknowledgments

We thank Robert A. Wharton (Texas A&M University) for the confirmation of the parasitoid identification.

Received 20 April 2011 and accepted 20 June 2011

Edited by Takumasa Kondo - CORPOICA

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• Marinho CF, Silva RA, Zucchi RA (2011) Chave de identificação de Braconidae (Alysiinae e Opiinae) parasitoides de larvas frugívoras na Região Amazônica, p.91-101. In Silva RA, Lemos WP, Zucchi RA (eds) Moscas-das-frutas na Amazônia Brasileira: diversidade, hospedeiros e inimigos naturais. Macapá, Embrapa Amapá, 299p.
• Ovruski SM, Aluja M, Sivinski J, Wharton RA (2000) Hymenopteran parasitoids on fruit-infesting Tephritidae (Diptera) in Latin America and the southern United States: diversity, distribution, taxonomic status and their use in fruit fly biological control. Int Pest Manage Rev 5: 81-107.
• Ovruski SM, Wharton R, Schliserman P, Aluja M (2005) Abundance of Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) and its associated native parasitoids (Hymenoptera) in feral guavas growings in the endangered northernmost Yungas forests of Argentina with and update on the taxonomic status of Opiinae parasitoid previously reported in this country. Environ Entomol34: 807-818.
• Wharton RA (n. d.) Key to species of Doryctobracon reared from fruit-infesting Tephritidae. In Wharton RA, Yoder MJ Parasitoids of fruit-infesting Tephritidae, paroffit. org. http://paroffit.org Accessed on April 13, 2011.
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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Feb 2012
• Date of issue
  Dec 2011

History

• Received
  20 Apr 2011
• Accepted
  20 June 2011