256 RESEARCH NOTE Report of a larvi-pupal parasitoid, Diachasmimorpha sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) associated with fruit fly, Bactrocera caryeae (Kapoor) B. R. JAYANTHI MALA Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Chettalli, Kodagu, Karnataka, 571248, India E-mail:entjaya@gmail.com Fruit flies (Diptera : Tephritidae) are important pests of several fruits and vegetables worldwide. Bactrocera caryeae is one of several economically important species of fruit flies belonging to the B. dorsalis complex. In India its distribution was reported from the Western Ghats region from South India. The species is restricted to a narrow strip along the west coast of South India (Verghese et al., 2006). Eggs of B. caryeae hatch in 1- 3 days, larvae feed for up to 35 days, pupate in the soil and adult emerges after 1-2 weeks (Christenson and Foote, 1960). The infested fruits show ovipositional punctures and later due larval feeding the fruits become soft and rot. Information on the natural enemy complex of fruit flies in general and B. caryeae in particular is lacking. This limits the scope of using the tool of biological control. Studies were conducted at Central Horticultural Experiment Station (CHES) Chettalli, Kodagu to document natural enemies of B. caryeae. Fruit fly infested tropical fruits like citrus sp., sapota, avocado, Malayan apple, egg fruit, west Indian cherry and wild fruits like Spondia dulcis etc. were collected from the experimental fields and kept for rearing to know the parasitoids associated with fruit flies. A parasitoid, Diachasmimorpha sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Opiinae) was reared from B.carayeae infesting the wild host Spondia dulcis (Pickle weed). Fruits of S. dulcis are known to have food flavouring properties. Around 186 fruits were collected and kept in soil for adult emergence. From these, 250 pupae were collected. It was observed that there was cent per cent parsitization of B. caryeae pupae in the month of April 2013 but in the following month, no parasitoids could be recovered. Diachasmimorpha sp. was confirmed to be larvi-pupal parasitoid i.e. a parasitoid which deposits eggs on the larvae and emerges from the pupae. The parasitized pupae turned black (Fig. 1). The distribution of Diachasmimorpha sp. was reported from Nearctic and Northern neotropical regions, Indo Australian region and Afrotropical region. There are several group species of Diachasmimorpha spp.The major species reared from fruit infesting tephritids are D. Aino, D.carinata, D. fullawayi, D. longicaudata and D. Mexicana (Veireck, 1913a). Diachasmimorpha sp. was widely distributed for biological control in Indo- Australia group species namely D. longicaudata and D. tryoni. These two were described as the most important species for biocontrol by their apical ovipositor (Wharton and Gilstrap 1983, Clausen 1978, Ovurski et al., 2000). X-ray irradiated (that prevented adult fly emergence) larvae of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was utilized as rearing hosts for the parasitoid, D. longicaudata (Ashmead) rearing (Mariana Mabel Viscarret et al., 2012). Fig. 1. Diachasm imorpha sp. parasitization on pupae of B. caryae Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems, Vol. 19, No. 2 pp 256-257 (2013)