Rearing of Diachasma muliebre Muesebeck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Rhagoletis fausta (Osten-Sacken) and Rhagoletis indifferens Curren (Diptera: Tephritidae) Puparia and an Analysis of How the Parasitoid Tracks Its Hosts in a Higher Elevation Habitat in California

I reared Diachasma muliebre on the puparia of both Rhagoletis fausta, which is a new host record, and Rhagoletis indifferens from Nevada County, California, which is a new county record. The eclosion of R. fausta was earlier than that of R. indifferens under the chilling conditions used (5 °C for 150 days). The eclosion of D. muliebre trailed that of both host flies by a period sufficient to allow the host fly larvae to be late second to early third instars, the presumably preferred stage for attack by the parasitoid, at the time of wasp eclosion as determined using degree-day models that were developed for the preovipositional and egg-larval periods of R. indifferens.