Records of Trichospilus diatraeae, an Asian Parasite (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from the Caribbean and Florida

Trichospilus diatraeae Cherian and Margabandhu (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is an Asian parasite of the pupae of graminaceous stem borers [Chilo spp. and Sesamia spp. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)]. Consignments from India were shipped to the USA and to Trinidad in 1963 for laboratory trials against Diatraea spp. which are serious pests of sugarcane in the New World (Rao et al. 1971). Emergence from consignments to the USA, sent to the USDA-ARS, Beneficial Insects Introduction Laboratory, Moorestown, N.J., was very poor and no tests or releases were undertaken (R. Dysart, USDAARS-BIRL, Newark, DE, personal communication, 1986). In Trinidad choice tests with material from India, carried out under quarantine, indicated that adults of this gregarious parasite did not discriminate between Diatraea pupae and puparia of the beneficial tachinid flies Lixophaga diatraeae (Townsend) and Paratheresia claripalpis (Wulp) (Bennett 1965). Therefore, cultures were destroyed without making any field releases. Tests undertaken in Barbados in 1963-1964 confirmed the Trinidad results and no releases were made at that time. However, this parasite was again imported from India into Barbados in 1972 (Alam & Gibbs 1985) against other lepidopterous pests, including Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Noctuidae). There were also reports (Cock 1985) of the introduction of a second species, Trichospilus pupivora Ferriere, against the same group of pests and this has lead to confusion as to which species is now present in Barbados. Establishment under the name T. pupivora was reported by Ingram (1981), Alam (1979), and Cock (1985), whereas Bennett and Alam (1985) listed the species as T. diatraeae and Alam and Gibbs (1985) also used this name. Both names represent valid species which are distinctive and can be readily separated (see Boucek 1976). In 1984, one of us (M.Y.) reared T. diatraeae from a noctuid pupa (possibly S. frugiperda) collected among rice stubble at Caroni, Trinidad. On May 3, 1985, one of us (H.G.) collected 48 pupae of Epimecis detexta (Walker), a geometrid pest of avocado, from a commercial grove in Dade Co., Florida; 2 of these yielded adults of T. diatraeae