Seasonal Abundance of Parasitoids of the Mediterranean and Oriental Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Kula Area of Maui, Hawaii

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), and the oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis Hendel, and their associated parasitoids were monitored on untreated fruits from mostly deciduous trees grown in the Kula area of Maui, Hawaii, from 1978 through 1981. Biosteres oophilus Fullaway, an egg-larval parasitoid, was predominant and accounted for ca. 80% of the total parasitization. On occasion, parasitization of 32 and 8% was reached by the larval-pupal parasitoids B. longicaudatus Ashmead and B. tryoni Cameron, respectively. These results suggest that the use of parasitoids to suppress both fruit fly species might be effective and ecologically acceptable.