PRELIMINARY INVENTORY OF HYMENOPTERAN PARASITOIDS ASSOCIATED WITH FRUIT-INFESTING FLIES (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) IN NORTHERN GHANA

Abstract

Baseline studies were conducted to determine the parasitoids associated with fruit flies in the northern savanna ecology of Ghana. Fruit fly puparia obtained from incubation of 17 host fruit species were maintained in rearing cages for the emergence of parasitoid wasps. Four species of braconid parasitoids namely, Fopius caudatus (Sz epligeti), Psyttalia cosyrae (Wilkinson), Psyttalia concolor (Sz epligeti) and Diachasmimorpha fullawayi (Silvestri) were recovered. F. caudatus was the most abundant parasitoid (61.0%) reared from most host fruits while D. fullawayi was the least abundant (7.7%). The overall mean parasitism rate was 7.1% with the highest record in Annona senegalensis Pers., Sarcocepholus latifolium S. Bruce and Icacina senegalensis Juss. Ceratitis cosyra and Bactrocera invadens were the fruit fly species most commonly reared that produced F. caudatus, and to a lesser extent, P. cosyrae. The peak occurrence of the parasitoids coincided with the peak of the rains and the maturity period of many of the host fruits. This first inventory of tephritid parasitoids in Ghana provides critical baseline data for biological control efforts in the future