Parasitoid Wasp

This species was successfully introduced from West Africa to Hawaii against medfly, Ceratitis capitata, by Fullaway and Bridwell in 1914 (Clausen et al. 1965).

Tetrastichus giffardianus is a gregarious, koinobiont endoparasitoid of various Tephritidae, with females ovipositing in late instar larvae and emerging from the host puparium.

Additional biological information can be found at the Tetrastichus page and in Ramadan and Wong (1990); see also the revision by LaSalle and Wharton (2002).

This species is readily characterized by the distintive bare patch (lacking setae) at the base of the fore wing (Fig. 1).

See also the Tetrastichus and Eulophidae pages.