Doryctobracon areolatus ( Szépligeti, 1911 )

Marinho, Cláudia F., Costa, Valmir A. & Zucchi, Roberto A., 2018, Annotated checklist and illustrated key to braconid parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) of economically important fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil, Zootaxa 4527 (1), pp. 21-36 : 25

Doryctobracon areolatus ( Szépligeti, 1911)

( Figure 1E )

Diagnosis. Occipital carina absent, clypeus with sinuate margin, notauli unsculptured, propodeum areolate with median longitudinal carina anteriorly and areola posteriorly, wings clear, fore wing with 2 nd submarginal cell short 4-sided, hind wing with m-cu present.

Comments. This is the most widespread fruit-fly parasitoid in the New World. In Brazil, D. areolatus is widely distributed, and it is the most common and abundant species parasitizing several Anastrepha species and Ceratitis capitata (Leonel Junior et al. 1 995; Canal & Zucchi 2000; Zucchi & Moraes 2008, 2012). Doryctobracon areolatus comprises a complex of cryptic species, and recently two new species closely similar to this parasitoid, D. adaimei and D. whartoni , were described ( Marinho et al. 2017). Probably D. areolatus forages only on fruits still on the tree, as it did not forage on fallen fruits in a shade house ( Silva et al. 2007). Doryctobracon areolatus is a parasitoid of the larva/pupa, but it can also parasitize eggs of A. obliqua , as reported in Mexico ( Murillo et al. 2015). Studies on biological parameters and the potential use of D. areolatus as a biological agent for control of fruit flies are being carried out in Brazil ( Nunes et al. 2011).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Fruit fly braconid parasitoids. Asobara anastrephae (A); Microcrasis lonchaeae (B); Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (C); Doryctobracon adaimei (D); D. areolatus (E); D. brasiliensis (F) (figures are not on the same scale).