Tetrastichus giffardianus Silvestri
Remarks
See also the Tetrastichus and Eulophidae pages.
Diagnosis and Relationships
This species is readily characterized by the distintive bare patch (lacking setae) at the base of the fore wing (Fig. 1).
Distribution
No referenced distribution records have been added to the database for this OTU.
Biology and Behavior
Tetrastichus giffardianus is a gregarious, koinobiont endoparasitoid of various Tephritidae, with females ovipositing in late instar larvae and emerging from the host puparium. A detailed biology was published by Pemberton and Willard (1918), including interactions between T. giffardianus and other species introduced to Hawaii about the same time for control of Ceratitis capitata (Pemberton and Willard 1918). Much of the earlier word was summarized by Clausen et al. (1965).
Additional biological information can be found at the Tetrastichus page and in Ramadan and Wong (1990), Purcell et al. (1996), and Purcell et al. (1997). See also the revision by LaSalle and Wharton (2002).
Biological Control
This species was successfully introduced from West Africa to Hawaii against medfly, Ceratitis capitata, by Fullaway and Bridwell in 1914 (Clausen et al. 1965). Some of the earliest reports of the introductions mistakenly referred to this as Tetrastichus giffardii, as noted by Back and Pemberton (1918).
Tetrastichus giffardianus was subsequently introduced to other countries from Hawaii, including Brazil, where Fonseca and Autuori (1940) and Fonseca (1947) published on rearing methods.
Map
There are no specimens currently determined for this OTU, or those specimens determined for this OTU are not yet mappable.
