In Brazil, the tephritids and lonchaeids are represented by important pests of fruits and vegetables, and both groups can share the same niches. This paper presents a methodology for collecting true fruit flies, lonchaeids, and their hymenopteran parasitoids from flowers, pods and fruits. A single layer of these plant materials was placed over a platform (50 cm long, 32 cm wide, 10 cm high), made of wood and plastic mesh (9 mm diameter), all put inside a plastic tray (MarfiniteTM, model 1013) with inner dimensions of 56 cm long, 35 cm wide, and 20 cm deep. The tray had a layer of about 15 mm of water to retain the 3rd instar larvae after they left the flowers, pods or fruits to pupate. Larvae were collected every 12h by pouring water in a sieve with a mesh of 1mm diameter. Larvae of the tephritids Anastrepha spp. and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) were separated from the lonchaeids Dasiops spp., Lonchaea spp. and Neosilba spp. in different containers until adult emergence. The separation of both frugivorous families at the larval stage allowed the establishment of host associations with parasitoids. The braconids Asobara, Doryctobracon, Opius and Utetes parasitized the Anastrepha spp. and C. capitata larvae. On the other hand, the eucoilids of the Aganaspis, Lopheucoila, Odontosema and Trybliographa genera parasitized Neosilba spp. larvae. The pteromalids parasitized both families of frugivorous flies.
Insecta; Anastrepha spp.; Ceratitis capitata; Neosilba spp.; Braconidae; Eucoilidae
