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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Poplarville, Mississippi » Southern Horticultural Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #199108
Title: Biology of Parasitoids (Hymenoptera) Attacking Dasineura oxycoccana and Prodiplosis vaccinii (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Cultivated Blueberries

Author
item Sampson, Blair
item Rinehart, Timothy - Tim
item LIBURD, OSCAR - UNIV OF FLA
item Stringer, Stephen
item Spiers, James

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2005
Publication Date: 1/1/2006
Citation: Sampson, B.J., Rinehart, T.A., Liburd, O.E., Stringer, S.J., Spiers, J.M. 2006. Biology of Parasitoids (Hymenoptera) Attacking Dasineura oxycoccana and Prodiplosis vaccinii (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Cultivated Blueberries. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 99(1):113-120.

Interpretive Summary: Three abundant species of parasitic wasps provided long-term control of two severe blueberry pests, the blueberry gall midge and blueberry tip midge. New recommendations have been implemented to preserve these parasitic wasps if insecticides are used against midge pests on commercial blueberries.

Technical Abstract: The cranberry tipworm, Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson), and the blueberry tipworm, Prodiplosis vaccinii (Felt) are recurring cecidomyiid pests of cultivated blueberries in the Southern United States and Mediterranean Europe. Insecticides can give short-term tipworm control, but overlap in parasitoid phenologies indicates the potential for natural control of tipworm populations. Using a combination of laboratory rearing and mitochondrial DNA analysis of field samples, we identified five species of solitary endoparasitoids, which killed 30 – 40% of tipworms. These species include at least three un-described Platygastrids in the genera Synopeas, Platygaster and Inostemma. An undescribed prepupal idiobiont, Aprostocetus sp. (Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) was the only tipworm parasitoid that was consistently active when rabbiteye blueberries were in flower. Six percent of tipworm prepupae, half of which already contained platygastrid larvae, were parasitized by Aprostocetus.