Anastrepha striata1 Parasitic Wasps in Guava Crops at Fragmented Landscapes of Nayarit, Mexico

Abstract

Biological control using native parasitoids is a sustainable alternative to control tephritid flies. We tested whether landscape attributes surrounding guava trees might affect incidence of fruit flies and their parasitoids. From July to September 2019, we collected guava fruit at six locations at Nayarit, México. Pupae obtained from the fruit collected were reared in a laboratory until emergence of adult flies and parasitoids. We combined in situ georeferenced information with 2019 SPOT-7 satellite images to characterize the landscape in circular 500-m buffers. Spearman-rank tests were used to analyze correlation between abundance of Anastrepha striata and parasitoids with the proportion of each soil coverage. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the influence of management intensity with abundance of the fruit fly and parasitoids. We collected 15.7 kg of guava fruit from six localities. Anastrepha striata was at all localities sampled. Infestation of fruit was 9.4%, ranging from 0.5 to 35.2 larvae per kilogram. The four parasitic wasp species attacking A. striata were Doryctobracon areolatus, Trichopria drosophilae, Aceratoneuromyia indica, and Leptopilina boulardi and are new records of interactions in the State of Nayarit. The wasps attacked 7.5% of the fruit fly pupae.