Evaluation of irradiated caribbean fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) larvae for laboratory rearing of doryctobracon areolatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Abstract

We report here that it is possible to rear D. areolatus on irradiated A. suspensa larvae without adversely affecting sex ratio and overall parasitoid emergence and with no adult A. suspense emergence. There was no difference in emergence of D. areolatus adults from irradiated versus non-irradiated hosts (72.4 ± 1.9% vs. 73.0 ± 1.9%), and no difference in sex ratio of parasitoids obtained from irradiated and non-irradiated hosts (50.0 ± 1.6 and 47.0 ± 1.4% female, respectively). The successful use of A. suspensa larval hosts can greatly ease the process of rearing, transporting, and releasing fruit fly parasitoids while eliminating the need to separate flies from parasitoids. Further improvements in the laboratory rearing process of D. areolatus, including irradiating late A. suspensa larvae at a lower dosage and irradiating A. suspensa as egg or early instars, are discussed.