Aganaspis pelleranoi

This is one of only two species of eucoiline Figitidae specifically utilized in biological control programs as of 2010. Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brèthes) was reared and released from 1941 to 1945 in several areas of Tucumán, Argentina (Nasca 1973). More recently, this species has been mass-produced in Metapa de Dominguez, Chiapas, Mexico (Ruiz et al. 1996).

Aganaspis pelleranoi has been reared from numerous species of Anastrepha from throughout the Neotropical Region. Specific host records include Anastrepha distincta Greene (Katiyar et al. 1995), A. fraterculus (Wiedemann) (Brèthes 1924), A. ludens (Loew), A. obliqua (Macquart) (Aluja et al. 1990), A. serpentina (Wiedemann) (Costa Lima 1940), A. striata Schiner (Clausen 1978), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (De Santis 1965), and Rhagoletis turpiniae Hernández-Ortiz (Hernández-Ortiz 1993). Lonchaeidae are also attacked, though less frequently than tephritids (Wharton et al. 1998). The published records indicate that A. pelleranoi has little or no host plant preferences. In experimental and field studies in Brazil A. pelleranoni was attracted to volatiles emitted by drosophilid larvae in rotting guava, using vibrotaxis to locate the host (Guimarães and Zucchi 2004).

Detailed biological information on A. pelleranoi can be found in Ovruski (1994a, 1994b) and Ovruski and Aluja (2002). Aganaspis pelleranoi is a solitary, koinobiont endoparasitoid that oviposits in late instar larvae of its tephritid hosts and emerges from the host puparium.

See the A. nordlanderi page for distinguishing characteristics to separate these two species, and the A. daci page to separate the native Neotropical species A. nordlanderi and A. pelleranoi from the introduced species A. daci.

This is perhaps the best known and most extensively studied eucoiline parasitoid of Tephritidae.

Ganaspis carvalhoi Dettmer, 1929 is a junior subjective synonym of A. pelleranoi, and some of the host records and distribution information will therefore be found under the name carvalhoi.

The generic placement of the neotropical species of Aganaspis is somewhat controversial (Diaz et al. 2006) and in need of further study. Forshage (2009 dissertation, Uppsala University) has provisionally transferred several previously descibed neotropical species to Aganaspis, and retains pelleranoi in Aganaspis.