Hyperparasitism by Coptera haywardi, a pupal fruit fly parasitoid

What is it about?

C. haywardi has been recommended to complement the biological control impact by Diachasmimorpha longicaudata, a larval fruit fly parasitoid, because it poseses an excellent host discriminatio ability to distinguish which pupae were parasitized (as larvae) by D. longicaudata, but we suspected that under specific circumstances this species can act as hyperparasitoid.

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Why is it important?

Given that both species are proposed to be used simultaneously to control fruit fly populations, it becomes of first intererest to know if an hyperparasitism relationship could be present btween these species, and if present, which were the impacts and conditions of such relatiionship.

Perspectives