Description: “Dirhinus giffardii”
Keywords: [ ]
Section: enemies
Slug: Dirhinus_giffardii
Tags: [ ]
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Title: Dirhinus giffardii
Topics:
- enemies
taxonomy:
Insecta
Holometabola
Hymenoptera
Apocrita
Chalcidoidea
Chalcididae
date: 2018-05-17
Dirhinus giffardii Silvestri
Systematic position: Insecta, Holometabola, Hymenoptera, Apocrita, Chalcidoidea, Chalcididae.
Morphology: Body about 3-5 mm in length, black, legs and antennae red-brown.
Geographical distribution: An African species that has successfully been introduced into many other regions, including the Middle East.
Life history: Dirhinus giffardii is an ectoparasitoid of the pupae of members of several cyclorrhaphous families, especially Tephritidae (fruit flies).The females pierce through the host puparial wall and oviposit on the pupa therein. After hatching the emerging larva feeds on the host pupa and consumes it, larger pupae being preferred. When emerging from pupae of Bactrocera zonata, the adults of D. giffardii lived for almost 3 weeks, and fecundity came to 43 eggs/female. When emerging from pupae of Ceratitis capitata the parasitoid lived for 6-7 weeks and fecundity reached 120 eggs/female. Host feeding prolonged life and increased and fecundity. The parasitoid prefers elder over younger host puparia, and unparasitized host pupae (for instance of C. capitata) over the same hosts that had been hyperparasitised (for instance, by Fopius arisanus).
Economic importance: Dirhinus giffardii is a generalist parasitoid that attacks several major fruit fly pests in the Middle East, including C. capitate, Bactrocera oleae and B. zonata. It may also cause minor economic damage by greatly reducing the numbers of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Stratiomyidae), tht are being produced in West Africa for waste recycling.
References
Devic, E. and Maquart, P.-O. 2015. Dirhinus giffardii (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), parasitoid affecting black soldier fly production systems in West Africa. Entomologia 3: 25-27.
El-Husseini, M.M., Agamy, E.A., Saafan, M.H. and Abd El-Khalek, W. M. 2008. On the biology of Dirhinus giffardii (Silvestri) (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) parasitizing pupae of the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 18: 391-396.
Naveed, M. and Ahmed, N. 2015. Dirhinus giffardii Rearing on Irradiated and Normal Fruit Fly Pupae. AP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, pp.68.
Podoler, H. and Mazor, M. 1981. Dirhinus giffardii Silvestri (Hym.: Chalcididae) as a parasite of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitate (Wiedemann) (Dip.: Tephritidae), 1: Some biological studies. Acta Oecologica, Oecologia Applicata 2: 255-265.
Wang, X.G. and Messing, R.H. 2004. Potential interactions between pupal and egg- or larval-pupal parasitoids of tephritid fruit flies. Environmental Entomology 33: 1313–1320.
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