Key to and Status of Opiine Braconid (Hymenoptera) Parasitoids Used in Biological Control of Ceratitis and Dacus s. l. (Diptera: Tephritidae)1

Two new species of Psyttalia Walker (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Opiinae) reared from fruit-infesting tephritid (Diptera) hosts in Kenya

“…Known members of the fl etcheri species group are Indo-Pacifi c in distribution, and I have seen several undescribed species distributed from northeastern Australia through Malaysia which diff er from described species primarily on the basis of diff erences in ovipositor length and fore wing venation. Intraspecifi c variation in thickness of 2RS is known both for species within the fl etcheri species group (Wharton and Gilstrap 1983) and for species in other species groups (Wharton et al 1999), but is recorded here for the fi rst time for a species from the African continent (see below under remarks for P. halidayi). Hosts are unknown for P. amboiensis and P. lemiensis, but all other members of the fl etcheri species group are parasitoids of various species of Bactrocera Macquart (Silvestri 1916a;Clausen et al 1965;Carmichael et al 2005).…”

“…I am unable to divide them satisfactorily into distinct species groups despite several attempts to delineate a smaller subset as the concolor species group (Wharton and Gilstrap 1983;Wharton 1997;Kimani-Njogu et al 2001;Rugman-Jones et al 2009). Species such as P. concolor, P. humilis, P. cosyrae (Wilkinson), P. perproxima (Silvestri), and P. phaeostigma (Wilkinson) are capable of hybridizing (producing viable female off spring) when confi ned in small containers (Kimani-Njogu et al 2001;Billah et al 2008a) despite originating from genetically distinct populations and in some cases being morphologically distinct as well (Kimani-Njogu et al 2001;Billah et al 2008b;Rugman-Jones et al 2009).…”

“…I continue to recognize the Psyttalia fl etcheri species group and include P. amboiensis (Fullaway), P. fi jiensis (Fullaway), P. fl etcheri, P. incisi, P. lemiensis (Szépligeti), P. muesebecki (Fischer), and P. novaguineensis (Szépligeti). Most of these species have 2RS thickened medially, the sole character traditionally used to defi ne Austroopius (Szép-ligeti 1900;Fischer 1972bFischer , 1987Wharton and Gilstrap 1983). However, I defi ne the fl etcheri species group more broadly to include species such as fl etcheri and incisi, while specifi cally excluding P. insignipennis (Granger).…”

“…Th ese hosts have previously been placed in Dacus Fabricius, but I know of no confi rmed records from Dacus as the latter genus is currently defi ned. Similarly, records of P. incisi from Carpomya vesuviana Costa (e. g. Wharton and Gilstrap 1983) need confi rmation since these records apparently come from fruit samples with mixed infestations of C. vesuviana and Bactrocera spp., whereas large samples yielding only C. vesuviana failed to produce P. incisi (e. g. Clausen et al 1965). Psyttalia novaguineensis has been recorded from several species of Bactrocera (Fischer 1987;Carmichael et al 2005), and the sole record from Euphranta Loew (Fischer 1987) should also be verifi ed.…”

Microsatellite marker variation in populations of the melon fly parasitoid, Psyttalia fletcheri

“…We collected fruits infested with fruit fly larvae from each locality and transported them to the laboratory at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. Parasitoids were identified based on morphological characteristics using the keys of Wharton and Gilstrap 19 . After identification, wasp specimens were kept at −80°C for molecular genetic analysis.…”