Effects of depth of oviposition dish and age of rearing host on efficiency of mass production of the tephritid fruit fly parasitoid Psyttalia fletcheri

Psyttalia fletcheri is a solitary larval endoparasitoid of the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae. Initially colonized in 1985, mass production of P. fletcheri for the last 10 years has been facilitated with a rearing method developed earlier. However, the level of parasitoid recovery seldom exceeded 35%. We examined the parasitoid's developmental biology and behavior to identify the procedures that may improve efficiency of production. We found that by limiting the depth of oviposition dish (receptacle that holds the host larvae during exposure to female parasitoids) to 4 mm and using 4-d-old (late 2nd instar) B. cucurbitae larvae for oviposition, parasitoid yield was increased two-fold.