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Seasonal abundance and parasitism of Mesoclanis seed flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in South Africa, and implications for the biological control of Chrysanthemoides monilifera (Asteraceae) in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

P.B. Edwards
P.B. Edwards*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Biological Control Unit, Zoology Department, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
*
*CSIRO Entomology, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory 0822, Australia. Fax: (08) 8944 8444 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The seasonal abundance and rates of parasitism of three species of Mesoclanis seed flies was studied in South Africa. The three species occur on Chrysanthemoides monilifera, and were recorded during most months of the year, whenever C. monilifera was flowering. At three sites in KwaZulu-Natal, numbers of eggs per capitulum of Mesoclanis polana Munro were highest on C. monilifera rotundata between June and November (winter/spring), towards the end of the main flowering flush. Parasitism of M. polana was between 50% and 90% for most of the year. Two other species of Mesoclanis (M. magnipalpis Bezzi and M. dubia Walker) occurred together on C. m. rotundata in the Eastern Cape (St Francis Bay), where parasitism during the year was between 55% and 95%. Peak numbers of eggs per capitulum (M. magnipalpis and M. dubia combined) occurred in May/June (winter), in the latter part of the main flowering flush. Mesoclanis magnipalpis was the only species recorded on C. m. pisifera in De Hoop Nature Reserve (Western Cape), where there was only one peak of oviposition (May/June), coinciding with the short and discrete flowering period of this subspecies. Parasitism was between 50% and 65%. At least nine species of parasitoid were reared from immature Mesoclanis stages. Eurytoma sp. (Eurytomidae) was a dominant parasitoid at all sites. Results are discussed in relation to the possible effectiveness of species of Mesoclanis seed flies as biological control agents of C. monilifera in Australia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 88 , Issue 4 , August 1998 , pp. 407 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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