Spotted-wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931), is an economic pest of thin-skinned fruit crops. Its control has commonly been carried out through chemical methods. However, given the need to develop safer and environmentally friendly management alternatives, the pupal endoparasitoid Trichopria anastrephae Lima stands out as a potential biological control agent. However, the lack of information on the mass rearing of this parasitoid limits its use. Thus, the objective of our study was to provide information that is useful for rearing T. anastrephae using D. suzukii as a host. The effects of pupal age, exposure time, and pupal density on the parasitism rate were examined, as was the effect of honey provision for extending adult parasitoid longevity. Exposing 15 12-h-old pupae per female for 24 h resulted in higher parasitism rates and a greater number of emerged parasitoids. Males and females of T. anastrephae fed with pure honey (100%) or honey diluted to 50% in water lived longer compared to those fed 10% honey, no food, or only water.

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The pupal parasitoid Trichopria anastrephae Lima (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) shows potential to control Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), and understanding the behavior of this parasitoid in challenging environments is important to obtain a higher efficiency in mass rearing and in biological control programs. This study aimed to verify the effects of extrinsic intraspecific competition and the absence of host on the parasitism of T. anastrephae in D. suzukii pupae. Therefore, to evaluate the parasitism of T. anastrephae under intraspecific competition, groups of 20 pupae (24 h old) of D. suzukii were offered for different densities of parasitoids (1, 3, 5, or 10 couples) during a 7-day period. Whereas to evaluate the effects of host deprivation on parasitism of T. anastrephae, we tested different treatments: T1-no deprivation, T2-complete deprivation, T3-deprivation every other day, T4-deprivation for 3 days, and T5-deprivation for 7 days. The increase of density of parasitoids resulted in an increase of oviposition scars on pupae and a longer biological cycle, suggesting the occurrence of superparasitism. Increased density also resulted in a higher percentage of attacked pupae, but did not affect parasitoids emergence nor sex ratio. Host deprivation affected number of parasitized pupae, number and sex ratio of offspring, and the longevity of females. Based on our findings, competition among females do not impair offspring viability, and host deprivation for a period up to 7 days do not influence parasitism capacity, indicating that it can be used as a pre-release strategy.

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The use of pesticides is considered one of the most important threats to pollinators, especially since they are widely used in agriculture for pest control. In the last years, several studies have reported severe secondary effects on various bee species, including exotic and native bees. In this study, lethal (mortality) and sublethal (locomotor activity) effects of insecticides and acaricides used in strawberries in Brazil (abamectin, novaluron, spinetoram, and thiamethoxam) were evaluated on the native stingless bees Melipona quadrifasciata and Tetragonisca fiebrigi. The results showed that the effects varied significantly according to the pesticide, type of exposure (oral or topical), and bee species. Through oral exposure, M. quadrifasciata was more susceptible to all insecticides except for abamectin, while in topical exposure, T. fiebrigi was more sensitive. Thiamethoxam followed by spinetoram and abamectin were the most lethal, regardless of species or exposure route; novaluron was not harmful at the highest tested dose. The locomotor activity of bees was altered in the presence of sublethal doses (LC 10 and LC 50 ) of all insecticides. Spinetoram and abamectin can be as much as toxic as thiamethoxam against M. quadrifasciata and T. fiebrigi in laboratory experiments. These findings should be confirmed in field experiments to define possibilities to combine pest control and pollinator management. In crops like strawberries, the selectivity of native pollinators should be considered.

The Dermatobia hominis larvae (Linnaeus Jr., 1781) (Diptera: Cuterebridae) causes a subcutaneous nodular miyasis and brings about irreversible perforation on skin, which damages the leather and therefore lowers its price for commercialization. The main purpose of the present work is to establish the larva distribution in cattle corporal area and also to define the infestation according to sex, age and color of skin. This survey was elaborated covering 8124 cattle slaughted in a slaughterhouse in Nilópolis city, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, with the intention of to identify larvae localization and distribution. The leather surface was divided into four regions: I (left anterior quadrant), II (right anterior quadrant), III (left posterior quadrant), IV (right posterior quadrant); the skin color was also registered. 84,8% leather skin examined were totally free from parasite. The incidence of parasited on region I was significantly larger: 33.4% (3029), on region II 30.9% (2796), on region III 20% (1813), on region IV 15.7% (1423). As to sex frequency the females presented more parasites 16.7% (342) than the males 14.7% (894). The adults were more vulnerable (15.4%) than the younger ones (12.1%). The parasite appeared more in black skins (18.1%), black and red (15.2%), black and white (15.3%), red (15.2%), spotted (13.2%), gray (11.8%).

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