J. HYM. RES. Vol. 7(1), 1998, pp. 102-115 Neotropical Eucoilidae (Cynipoidea) Associated with Fruit-infesting Tephritidae, with New Records from Argentina, Bolivia and Costa Rica R. A. Wharton, S. M. Ovruski, and F. E. Gilstrap (RAW, FEG) Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology, College Station, TX 77843-2475, USA; (SMO) CIRPON, C. C. C. 90 4000, San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina Abstract. — Host and distribution records are presented for five species of Neotropical Eucoilidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea) reared in association with fruit-infesting Tephritidae. All previously recorded tephritid host associations for New World species are critically reviewed with the con-clusion that several of these records are doubtful. Members of the genera Aganaspis and Odonto-sema are confirmed as parasitoids of Anastrepha and Ceratitis. Based on isolated puparia, Dicera-taspis and Lopheucoila are recorded as parasitoids of Drosophilidae and Lonchaeidae, respectively. It is suggested that Dicerataspis is unlikely to attack Tephritidae, and records of Lopheucoila from Tephritidae require confirmation. One new species reared from Tephritidae, Aganaspis nordlan-deri Wharton, is described. The Eucoilidae are solitary endoparasi-toids that oviposit in the larval stage of cyclorrhaphous Diptera and emerge as adults from the host puparium. Several eucoilid species have been implicated as important natural enemies of different phytophagous dipteran species (Wishart and Monteith 1954, Harding 1965, Valla-dares et al. 1982, Johnson 1987), and two species have been used for the biological control of fruit fly pests (Clausen 1978). The Asian species Aganaspis daci (Weld) has been introduced to the New World, and the Neotropical endemic Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brethes) was reared and re-leased from 1941 to 1945 in several areas of Tucuman, Argentina (Nasca 1973). At present, A. pelleranoi is being mass-pro-duced in Metapa de Dominguez, Chiapas, Mexico (Ruiz et al. 1996). Members of the genus Aganaspis are the only eucoilids thus far utilized in biologi-cal control efforts against Tephritidae. The two species involved, A. daci and A. pel-leranoi, are also the only eucoilids attack-ing tephritids for which biological infor-mation other than host records has been published. Different aspects of the basic biology of A. daci were studied in the lab-oratory associated with programs directed against Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) in Ha-waii (Clausen et al. 1965) and Anastrepha suspensa (Loew) in Florida (Nunez-Bueno 1982). This species has also been intro-duced to Mexico (Jimenez-Jimenez 1956) and Costa Rica (Wharton et al. 1981, Jiron and Mexzon 1989). Establishment in Mex-ico and Costa Rica is doubtful, but in Flor-ida it is established on Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), though in low numbers (Bara-nowski et al. 1993). A detailed biology of A. pelleranoi was given by Ovruski (1994a, 1994b). The aim of this note is to provide pre-liminary information on the diversity of eucoilid species associated with tephritid fruit flies in the Neotropics, and clarify the status of species previously recorded as te-phritid parasitoids. While several species have been associated with tephritids, few of these have been reared from puparia that were sufficiently isolated to enable
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