, pela orientação, pela oportunidade de trabalhar com este grupo de insetos e por seus exemplos de profissionalismo e dedicação.Ao Dr. Antônio Souza do Nascimento (EMBRAPA/CNPMF), uma das pessoas que mais acreditou no meu potencial e ampliou minha visão de ciência, além do valioso auxílio prestado durante a elaboração e execução desta pesquisa. A todos os colegas da ESALQ (Entomologia), principalmente aqueles com quem formamos equipe, fizemos disciplina ou simplesmente convivemos, em especial à Teresinha, Ranyse e Cláudia, com quem tive a dádiva de desenvolver uma amizade sólida.Aos colegas da UNIMONTES, professores e funcionários, que direta ou indiretamente me acompanharam nesta importante etapa da minha vida profissional.

The purpose of this study was to investigate native species of parasitoids of frugivorous larvae and their associations with host plants in commercial guava orchards and in typical native dry forests of a caatinga-cerrado ecotone in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Nine species of parasitoids were associated with larvae of Anastrepha (Tephritidae) and Neosilba (Lonchaeidae) in fruit of Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae), Ziziphus joazeiro Mart. (Rhamnaceae), Spondias tuberosa Arruda (Anacardiaceae), Spondias dulcis Forst. (Anacardiaceae), Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (Myrtaceae), and Randia armata (Sw.) DC. (Rubiaceae). Doryctobracon areolatus was the most abundant species, obtained from puparia of Anastrepha zenildae, An. sororcula, An. fraterculus, An. obliqua, and An. turpiniae. This is the first report of Asobara obliqua in Brazil and of As. anastrephae and Tropideucoila weldi in dry forests of Minas Gerais State. The number of species of parasitoids was higher in areas with greater diversity of cultivated species and lower pesticide use. The forest fragments adjacent to the orchards served as shelter for parasitoids of frugivorous larvae.

Fruit flies are considered an important fruit pest for world fruit production because they cause significant losses to the production and limit fruit free transport due to quarantine restrictions imposed by importing countries. Fruit flies population dynamics knowledge of a particular region is an important factor in the management of this pest. Traps are devices created to attract and capture flies by sexual attraction or food attraction, both put inside the trap. It reduces fruit flies population in the orchard, decreasing the pressure and chances of an infestation. This research aimed to evaluate the efficiency of food baits in the fruit flies capture on guava plant culture, in order to establish an adequate program for this pest in the municipality of Nova Floresta – PB. Monitoring of the adult fruit-fly was performed with aid of plastic traps of the type PET bottle 330 mL of Bio Anastrepha® 5.0%, 440 mL of sugarcane molasses diluted to 10.0% and 520 mL of 30.0% fruit juice (guava). The traps were installed in the central part of the trees, approximately 1.50 m above ground. Every 15 days adult fruit flies were caught, the occasion that food baits were replaced. From these data were evaluated: efficiency of food baits, MAD index (flies/trap/day) and food baits cost-benefit analysis. The best food attractant at the lowest cost was Bio Anastrepha® at 5.0%, with a catch margin of 63.83%, followed by fruit juice at 30.0% and sugarcane molasses at 10.0%, with 34.04% and 2.13%, respectively.

Knowledge of the population fluctuation of a pest in an orchard allows the producer preventing and making use of techniques that control the insect pest before it causes economic damages. The objective of the present work was to verify fruit fly species population dynamics in a commercial of Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae) orchard in the Curimataú microregion of Paraíba, also to characterize the community of fruit flies through faunistic analysis as well. Fruits were collected biweekly, the total was 24 collections between August 2014 and July 2015 in the municipality of Nova Floresta-PB. Fruits were preferentially collected mature or at the beginning of maturation, differentiating fruits harvested on the soil, plants, and through PET traps containing different food attractants. After collection, fruits were kept in plastic trays filled with a layer of two centimeters of sterilized sand and covered with fabric ‘voil’. The trays were labeled with the field data and placed in a greenhouse. Past the period of 15-25 days the fruits, already in the stage of decomposition were examined in order to collect pupae and larvae of 3rd instar. A total of 462 specimens of fruit flies were collected in 12 months sampling period, they were collected from fruits gathered from the ground and from the tree, and through trapping, being 209 males and 253 females, all collected in P. guajava. From the results obtained during the sampling period, a total of four species were recorded by fruit collection and six species by a trap. A new specimen of Anastrepha was found that there was no register in Paraíba yet, Anastrepha hadropickeli Canal, Uramoto and Zucchi (2013), as well as a Rhagoletis sp. (Loew).

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are considered important pests of fruticulture due to considerable losses to production and limitation to free transit of fresh fruits. A generalist species is cresature that can live or feed on a wide variety of environemnts or host plants. Although, Anastrepha is a generalist species but infests a small range of plants. The specificity of this species with host plants is a peculiar characteristic of genus Anastrepha. Therefore, it is important to understand the host species and its feeding behaviour on host plants. This way, we will better know its ecology, biology and evolution for rational control ways and measures. Therefore, this study aimed at understanding the biology of Anastrepha alveata Stone (Diptera: Tephritidae). A study was carried out under controlled laboratory conditions (27 ± 2°C temperature, 70 ± 5% RH, photoperiod 12 hours) during the period from November/2015 to October/2017. Anastrepha alveata adults were obtained from wild plum fruits Ximenia americana L. (Olacaceae), collected from Savanna area in two fructification periods. One-hundred and fifty Anastrepha alveata adults were collected (60 females and 90 males) to determine sexual maturity, mating behavior, fecundity and longevity. The sexual maturity for Anastrepha alveata was 8-13 days after emergence for females. At this age they emitted signal of acceptance for mating and copulation. For males, 5-7 days after emergence this mating signals was given, which was characterized by the protrusion of the lateral abdominal pleural glands. The mating rhythm of Anastrepha alveata was crepuscular/nocturnal, beginning around 6 p.m. and extending to/after 9 p.m. Anastrepha alveata females did not mate with more than one male but mated more than once. The number of males did not affect significantly the mating time, the number of eggs and the longevity of Anastrepha alveata. The mean pupal period for Anastrepha alveata was 17.5 days. Two preferential peaks for adult emergence were observed at 10:00 am and 03:00 pm. The longevity of the adult insects was greater than 300 days, surviving until the fructification of its host (wild plum) in the following year. Therefore, A. alveata has a strictly monophagous food habit associated with the Ximenia americana host.